Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hi i have an 18 inch american alligator and he has been running into the side of his cage and now on the tip of his nose he has rubbed all his skin off is this something i should worry about or is it no big deal also he will not eat anything but goldfish what are some ways you guys have got your gator to eat

I have a Two foot gator and he has had the same nose problem as well, so that is all I can offer advice on (sorry.) If he is out of the water basking a good portion of the time a small amount of Neosporin on his nose should heal that up in three weeks at the most. If hes in the water you may want to make less of a water area temporarily, just to give the nose a little time to heal. But, I'm not a licensed vet and I'm only telling you what has worked for me in the past. Your best bet always is to seek out and visit or call a exotic vet and ask him what to do.

Sorry I couldn't halp more and hope your gator gets better!

Brian

To get your gator to eat something besides goldfish - stop offering goldfish.

We have our 18" gator on a diet of primarily Burris Mills gator chow. It took about a week to switch him over. All we did was let him get good and hungry. After a week with no food, all I had to do was drop some pellets in the water, and he snatched them up immediately.

But above all - just don't put any more goldfish in the tank. I may not be a gator expert, but I can almost guarantee this will work

I don't keep any sort of crocodilians. But I know with most snakes and reptiles, if you give them a non-see through cage (Even just by covering the sides with paper or something) they'll usually stop.

Reptiles don't understand the concept of glass. If they can see through it, they can go through it. Obviously, that isn't true in the case of glass.

#1 Stop feeding goldfish. You should never feed a crocodilian goldfish.

#2 I agree that if you put something around the sides they will stop. I had my young gator in a 50 gallon tank at first. They just see things through the side of the glass and if they are hungry they act with a feeding response. They will usually strike if it comes within their perifial vision. As far as the scar goes. Don't sweat it. Just be sure to keep the water and things clean and don't let his area get gunked up while he has the injury. You don't want anything like that to cause an infection. If you do then you ARE in trouble. Gators are not whimps. They are like tanks. They can handle much more then people think they can. I am not saying you can do whatever you want to with them and expect them to live though. I have a friend who has let his gator run around the basement for a month or two at a time (without water and no food) ( I am not saying to do this because I don't think you should because I wouldn't) but this gator every time I see it is running around strong. He usually has no heat lamp or anything. This brings me to wonder if this animal can take that sort of treatment for several years and still be perfectly fine how it is that people manage to kill their animals. OH well. Just make sure you keep his area clean until you see it start to clear up. Try covering up the sides of the tank or buy him a tub or something that can't be seen through. I hope this helps and good luck with the gator.

Chris