Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i'm getting a babie shinisaurus crocidrlus(miss spelled) can anyone one help with cage ideas. its a babie around 4ins. the tank i plan on useing is a 50gal breeder 36x18x18. i'm thinking of doing about 1/3 land going across at a angel and then keeping water level around 8in and a fluval filter. but looking for other ideas so if anyone has some i'm all eyes. thanks talk to ya chris

Mine (I had an adult male in the late 80's early 90's) spent 90% of his time in the water, so you might want to go more like 50/50 for the division of water to land. Fluval is a pretty good filter but be prepared to do nearly total water changes or you'll be siphoning a lot. I love those guys, my all time favorite lizard! Good luck with yours and please post some pics of your set up.
Lora

thanks for the replys. yeah i'm pretty excited. i'll get him in around a week hopeflly sooner. my tank is a 50gal breeder. what i'm thinking is paveing stones to make a devider then sinking a wash tub or litter pan behind it filling it with a sand soil mix so i can have a area to plant some live plants and have a dry area that wont get soaked then fill in the sides with pea gravel, gravel in the water side as well. also i'm thinking around 8in water depth with a regular back mount filter with the water falling on to a large rock comming out of the water. do you think that is overkill for a 4in babie. i'm worried it's to much water. please let me know what you think. thanks chris

I've kept Shinisaurus before and have enjoyed them immensly. Some of my friends and former zoo colleagues have bred them and have had trouble with the babies.

In general, the advise is to raise the babies in small and fairly spartan cages. One guy I know used 5 gallon aqariums tilted slightly and then put a curved piece of cork bark so that it was partially in the water and partiall on the "dry" part of the aqarium.

This gave fewer places for prey items to hide and made it easier for the babies to "stalk" their prey. This way you can tell if the animal is eating and how much.

It also makes cleaning and water changes easy.

Take my advice and keep your baby in a small cage with minimal furnishings. As it grows you'll have a long time to set up the ideal palladrium for it.

there is so little info. out there even less on rearing babies any input i recive is helpful. is what your saying is a small glass tank with water and curved pice of cork bark? what about substrate? water quality? heat? can you use distiled water? or a small tank with say a flower pot base for a sallow pool? or would plastic or glazed ceramic be better? i just want to do the best that i can. but i don't want to over do it. can you point me in the dirction of some contacts? please let me know what you think and thank you. chris

Believe it or not, no substrate. Baby Shinisaurus can be such passive hunters it's best not to give the prey anyplace to hide. This is more of a problem with crickets than it is with small feeder fish.

Otherwise just use a small tank with something propped under one end to tilt it up.

As far as water quality, simply do frequent changes with water you've allowed to age to room temperature. I would not use distilled.

I prefer the sloped terrarium idea to the flower pot. This will make it easier to have the hide area partially submerged.

If you have a herp room that is already slightly warmer than normal room temperature that should be sufficient. These are very cold hearty. Check with the person you're buying from obviously, to see how he or she is raising them.

Unfortunately, all of my contacts are zoo contacts and they prefer not to have their names given out.
****************
is what your saying is a small glass tank with water and curved pice of cork bark? what about substrate? water quality? heat? can you use distiled water? or a small tank with say a flower pot base for a sallow pool? or would plastic or glazed ceramic be better? i just want to do the best that i can. but i don't want to over do it. can you point me in the dirction of some contacts?

chris, thank you i think your right with the "less is better" set up. just a few more questions. how often to change the water? room temp. tap water? any kind of basking and u.v.b lighting? sorry for all the questions. but this is just the kind of info. i needed. what else do you keep? i keep ctenosaura hemilopha conspicuosa (san estaban spineytailed iguanas) and c.pectanata (yellow phase). talk to ya later chris .

This is getting into the kind of information I don't feel comfortable commenting on with my lack of first hand experience. I've had several friends work closely with this species, and I've taken care of theirs at times, but not enough to develop a "feel" for them.

**************
how often to change the water? room temp. tap water? any kind of basking and u.v.b lighting?

I should say I've never developed a feel for the babies, not the adults. I have worked directly with adults.

you did give me some very helpful info. thank you. i'll try and keep you posted on how things go after she gets here. talk yo ya chris