Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey everyone, my spec caiman has slowed down it's feeding to a minimum in the past 2 months. He has owned me for the past 2 yrs and was picked up as an adoption; he was 3ft in length and now is almost 5ft. The water temps are kept at 80 and the air temps in the herp room are 80 too, he has basking lights in his land area. His diet consists of chicken breast and rats/small rabbits. Also I have noticed the characters on the bottom of his kiddie pool are disintegrating and even though there is a pond filter I am wondering if that is having any effects on the water quality. He has also been doing a lot of that grunting/growling breeding type noises (sounds like someone is on the outside of the herp room and banging on the walls) lately but he has also done that in the past and not slowed down his feedings. He has an appointment at Cornell univ vet school on the 12th but I was hoping that maybe someone here can give me some advice to ease my daily worrying about him. Also if anyone knows of any vets in the n.e. pa area or even the southern tier of ny that have croc knowledge/experience can you please send me contact info. Thanks, Attila

Hey everyone, my spec caiman has slowed down it's feeding to a minimum in the past 2 months. He has owned me for the past 2 yrs and was picked up as an adoption; he was 3ft in length and now is almost 5ft. The water temps are kept at 80 and the air temps in the herp room are 80 too, he has basking lights in his land area. His diet consists of chicken breast and rats/small rabbits. Also I have noticed the characters on the bottom of his kiddie pool are disintegrating and even though there is a pond filter I am wondering if that is having any effects on the water quality. He has also been doing a lot of that grunting/growling breeding type noises (sounds like someone is on the outside of the herp room and banging on the walls) lately but he has also done that in the past and not slowed down his feedings. He has an appointment at Cornell univ vet school on the 12th but I was hoping that maybe someone here can give me some advice to ease my daily worrying about him. Also if anyone knows of any vets in the n.e. pa area or even the southern tier of ny that have croc knowledge/experience can you please send me contact info. Thanks, Attila

Don't worry about it unless he starts getting really thin. Crocodilians go off feed from time to time and usually there is no problem. I would worry about why the kiddie pool is falling apart though. Also I am curious how big the kiddie pool is. I can't remember ever seeing one even close to big enough for a 5ft caiman but maybe I just haven't paid enough attention.

Seth

this pic was taken last year when he was 4ft. The kiddie pool is 5 and a half feet long, enclosure is 9ft long, 5.5ft wide and he seems comfortable. Next year when the new herp building is put up he will get a much larger enclosure. Thanxs, Attila

;