Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My name is Elise. I need to tell somebody whats happening to this beautiful creature.. This is a long story and i know i can find some of the answers by reaserching more but This is a little differnt because i dont own the animal.

My bestfriends brother, Brian, bought either a baby male caiman or american alligator (i really dont know how to tell the difference. but ill call it a caimen) about 5 weeks ago from some pet store out of town. He has a history of animal neglect and abuse and is one of those people who buys animals because they look mean (pitt bulls, pythons, taranchulas..ect). He is a horrible person, i've personally seen the remains of two dogs he has starved to death. He puts NO thought into the process of buying an animal.

Back to the caiman...
Where do i start??? Brian named it "[bleep]er".. he has no idea how to care for this animal. Hes keeping it in a 40gallon glass tank filled with about 3inches of water. That is all - no land, no source of heat, barely any light. We live in wisconsin.. its very cold and i know that is not healthy any reptile. He has three dogs, two pitt bulls and a greatdane. The caimans cage is in the living room where the dogs always run around and bark. It must be very stressful for the caiman. Brian also teases it all the time.. He bangs on the glass, throws things on top of the cage to make it hiss, waves a small stuffed animal in its face so it bites it.. *(i know i should have brian put in jail for what hes done to previous animals hes owned but i just cant for many different reasons, if i could, i would.) And if i suggest anything to brian, he has an excuse for everything.. and i dont want him to not allow me over anymore or else i know his animals would die.

The water wasnt changed untill just this last weekend when a friend and i did it when Brian wasnt home. I couldnt stand to see it in such filthy water.
Lastnight 12/24/03 i went to a pet store and asked for suggestions on a heat source. They recommended a 150wat infared heat bulb so i bought that and a lamp to go with it. Then i bought two stone brick slabs to put in his cage so he had a way to get out of the water. This is not the first time i've bought things for brians animals.. If there is one thing i cannot stand, its animal abuse.

The caiman loves the stones and the heat lamp.. for the first time i saw him sleep and look content. The heat lamp really does put out alot of heat - im not sure if its too much though. Im happy its feeling better now.
While brian teased it w/ a stuffed animal and said "wow hes agressive", I asked him when was the last time the caiman was fed? He said "Oh about two weeks ago, i think its about time to feed him again but the pet stores are closed." Now i know it needs to eat more than that. It is just a baby! I read they need to eat 3 - 4 times a week!

The point of this story is that i need help. I need suggestions on what i could do to help this guy but I dont have that big of a budget, and i know brian wont go out of his way for an animal so i am its only hope. If anyone has any tips or ideas (besides take it away from brian) or could talk to me personally about this please let me know.

my main questions are:
- whats the most nutritious food for him? are live mice ok? and how offten.
- is 150w too much for him?
- i cannot afford a bigger tank for him, what are somethings i could do to his cage (40g glass tank) to make him feel better? i know it needs alot deeper water, but i dont know what i could do for land if the water was any deeper.
- He isnt used to being held, and is more aggresive than normal thanks to brian. I want to gain a little trust from it but since i cant be there all the time, im not sure if theres anything i can do...?

thank you for taking the time to read my concerns. i really dont know what to do anymore and it hurts to see it suffer.
Sincerly,
Elise C.
Southen Wisconsin.
elisescivic@hotmail.com

*** PS: Since i couldnt take a picture of JUST the tank with out brian getting suspicious, i had my friend take this picture so you can have the general idea of how horrible this animals life must be. Notice the DIRTY water? that was before i cleaned it and added the light and rocks. NOTICE the IMMATURE crap he wrote on the tank? ugh.
its horrible. ***

JUST CALL ANIMAL CONTROL. It's that easy. If you are so sick and tired of this guy abusing his animals, turn his sorry a$$ in. You'll feel better in the end. You can even turn in an anonymous tip to Animal Control. Then you're off the hook.

In the meantime... it's tough to answer your questions, because we don't even know if it is a caiman or a gator, what the water temperatures are, what the basking temperatures are, or anything for that matter.

Sorry I can't help you more... But as I said. Turn the bastard in.

You should look at ://crocodilian.com/crocfaq/ for basic crocodilian care. That will answer all your care questions. I would politely offer a few suggestions as to how the caimans life could be improved based on the info you find on that site. If he seems like he might be willing to improve the caimans setup you can go from there. And whatever you do don't lecture him on how sorry his setup is or you will not get anything acomplished. If he will not listen to reason stay out of it. This may sound harsh and hard on the caiman but there is only so much you can do with someone else's animal if they will not listen to reason and you will not turn them in. Trying to take care of the animal of someone that will not listen to reason and only likes animals for the "tough guy" effect long term will probably get you into serious trouble.

I'm betting it's a gator. They're a lot cheaper than caimans and much more common in pet stores. This animal is either going to die or grow too big for its enclosure.
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Peter: It's OK, I'll handle it. I read a book about something like this.
Brian: Are you sure it was a book? Are you sure it wasn't NOTHING?