Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hey everyone, i've kept a 2' dwarf caiman for a while now and was wondering a few things. i'm building him a land section in his tank out of some nice stones i picked up, but before i start, i was told by someone that sandstone can kill aquatic animals. i've never heard of any detrimental effects on even fish, nevermind caimans, but figured if it was bad for them, someone here would know about it. also, i'm wondering what everyone out there feeds their dwarfs. i picked this one up from a friend who fed him mostly mice, with some fish. i've got him alternating on meals of fish, mice, small crabs, crayfish, and some other small stuff. he seems to like the variety, as he'll pick and choose what he eats. but i was looking at some stuff from a local grocery store, mainly live fish. i don't think he'll eat fillet's or anything like that, i've tried some dead food and hes never been interested. the movement gets his attention, so i figured maybe i'd try some live stuff from the seafood department. they've got small live trout that i was looking at, about 6-8 inches. now my question is, do you guys think he could tear that up and eat it, or if he'd not even bother? i just want to try to mix up his prey, to get some more variety in there. anyways, sorry for the length, but any help would be appreciated.
thanks,
andy.

I have never heard anything about sandstone. I can't imagine what properties it would have that could cause health problems to a gator either. I think it's more likely that someone had a small gator that died and someone jumped to a conclusion that the sandstone they had in the vivarium caused the problem.

The diet that you are feeding the caiman sounds great! Whether it will go after the larger sized trout willl probably depend on how hungry it is and how much it want's to work for the meal. It would certainly be able to tear the fish apart but in the process, it will likely make quite a mess as the fish is shaken back and forth till it flys apart.

Bill

thanks for the quick response, but yeah i figured that it was kinda a wives tale or something about the sandstone. i work at a pet store, and have never heard anything about sandstone being bad for aquatic animals. just something i heard mentioned and figured i'd clarify to be on the safe side. but yeah the caimman seems to be responding well to the change in diet, hes quite active now and overall seems to be a very healthy animal. i figure sometime i'll give the trout a try, see if he shows any interest in it. who knows, maybe it could be a treat every now and then! haha thanks again for the clarification,
Andy.