Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Bill
Still have'nt figured out how to post on the list but...
Of course Adam stole a little thunder.
I raised 4 caimens to adulthood over the past 14 years.
Three male specs and a female yac. The 3 specs I received when they were between 2-3 feet. They were "pets" that had become unmanagable. All 3 looked pretty healthy. I met the owner of one he brought in a pair( my boss wanted the female) but we were impressed. He kept them in a 6 foot galvanized tub with heat lamps on each end a large UVB in the middle. He bought them as hatchlings and only fed crickets and rodents. These animals looked especially good. Over the years all 3 males have grown well but within a couple of years 2 of them started displaying the splayed teeth. All exhibited the massive broad head of a captive caimen. But only 2 had splayed teeth. For several years they only got worse. Finally after years of spending most if not all year outdoors and being fed a lot of whole animals they have started to look better. Once they got their adult teeth the large teeth are perfectly straight. Their jaws are still messed up and the small teeth splayed but the large teeth look great. UVB boy his teeth have been perfect forever. He now has his adult teeth and they are straight and wicked.
Like Adam said the first year is critical. Did she have the gator since it was a hatchling?
I know the teeth can straighten out. Several months is very optimistic I would look at several years.
Ihave a group of 4 specs that were imported as adults and they have the most beautiful elongated skull you've ever seen. Especially the females.
I did wonder what Adam considered hardshell animals. Besides turtles and crabs.
Anyway IMO its the first year that matters. I dont know if it is calcium or UVB or both but it is the first year and unfortunately the damage may not show up for years.
Thats my experince. D.C.

Hi Danny,

This alligator and one that was living with it in the same house came in as unwanted pets about 5 or 6 years ago. I the best of my knowledge, they were approx 3 to 4 years old and only about 26" long. The bones on the front legs were extremely deformed due to what I can only assume was poor diet. Here is the photo of the xray:

So it's not that it never had problems. I kept it for a couple years and was finally able to adopt it out. At the time I passed it to the current owner, it could barely walk on those misshapen legs. The current owner has had it now for 4 or so years and has done a remarkable job of getting the gator back on it's feet (pun intended). Watching it walk, you can hardly tell there was ever a problem in the legs. She feed it only whole prey (rats), gave it a roomy area with good temps and in addition, provided UVB in the form of Repti-sun (or similar) bulbs over the basking area.
The problem with the teeth began to show up only a few months back. Nothing has changed, husbandry wise. As I stated on the list, I've seen a lot of caimans with this condition, but only one other alligator.

It might be a nice project for some post-grad biology student to help figure this out.

To the others here at Kingsnake reading this, here are the photos of the teeth today:

This is the same gator in Sept 04

Interesting, huh?

Bill