Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i've been on these forums for a while but don't really post here mostly on cyclura ctenosaura forum. anyway i'm getting one of the shinisaurus from the classafieds. i've found some info on the web but it's real general or from another country. i wonder if anyone here has kept them. or knows temps perferd diet, or proper tank set up. keep in mind it will be a newborn. thanks. talk to ya chris a pic of my pair of ctenosaura himilopha cospicuosa

I kept an adult shini back in the late 80s and there was only one article in Reptiles to go on. I kept mine in a 60/40 water to land ratio with minimal heating 70-80 degrees. Water was about 3-4 inches deep. He ate fish, crickets, other insects- pretty much any prey I dangled in front of him. Moving prey was the trigger, so I usually hand fed him. I didn't handle him a lot other than to check his health or clean out the cage. He spent most of his time in the water side occasionally coming out to bask. He would go through periods of inactivity where he sat on the water side totally submerged which was kind of freaky. Then he'd start swimming like crazy. I ended up giving him to a zoo that was starting a breeding program in '92. Really neat lizard! Bert at Agama International keeps them so you may want to contact him for more recent husbandry information. There're also some good German websites if you try searching on Google.
Lora