Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm thinking about purchasing a new Crocodilian for my small pet collection. I want to find out what they are like to take care of. So I have a few questions about them. First off, I was looking into a Dwarf or a Smoothfront, which one of these would you consider for a first Caiman owner? I'm looking for a smaller species, so which one would stay smaller? I have looked through care sheets and stuff like this, but I perfer to get the owners insight over those.
- How would you go about housing (height, width, length)
- How do you go about heating, what are the day and night temperatures?
- Do the water containers need a fiter?
- How often do the eat? (crickets, goldfish, mice)
- This is a weird question but it is a need to know, how hard are they to clean? (how often do they deficate and how large is it?)
- Can I also have a growth rate of the prefered species? (in years, fast or short would be easiest)
- What are common health problems?
- Do they need grooming (like getting their nails clipped)
- Does their water require certain purification (like PH levels, or temperatures)
- Does anyone know of a good place to get one?
Sorry for so many questions, but I just want to know what I'm getting myself into.
Thank you,
~Ben
- 10' Female Green x Yellow Anaconda
- 8' Male Green Anaconda
- 3' Super Tiger Reticulated Python

"How would you go about housing (height, width, length)"
3 times the largest animals length

"How do you go about heating, what are the day and night temperatures"
Keep the area that the animal is in warm around 85 degree ambient air temp and basking spot with a basking spot of about 100-105 degrees.

"Do the water containers need a fiter?"
They dont need one, but it makes life easier for you

"How often do the eat? (crickets, goldfish, mice)"
Goldfish are a sin to feed, mice and crickets are fine for when younger. a small meal every other day when young and a decent size meal 3 times weekly will be good when older. Depending on how much you feed the last meal (just like large constrictors) will determine how much they get fed the next time and how soon.

"This is a weird question but it is a need to know, how hard are they to clean? (how often do they deficate and how large is it?)"
Depends on the size of the animal and how often they are fed (just like snakes).

"Can I also have a growth rate of the prefered species? (in years, fast or short would be easiest)"
Typical rule is about 12" per year. A dwarf caiman will stay smaller so will not grow quite as fast.

"What are common health problems?"
The keeper

"Do they need grooming (like getting their nails clipped)"
DONOT clip their nails

"Does their water require certain purification (like PH levels, or temperatures)"
No PH levels, 76-78 degree water temps are perfectly suffficient

"Does anyone know of a good place to get one?"
If you have to ask this, then you dont need one

"Sorry for so many questions, but I just want to know what I'm getting myself into."
Even after these questions, you still dont know what you are getting yourself into.
Read the crocodilian captive care FAQ at:
www.crocodilian.com/crocfaq- this site is done by Dr. Adam Britton and is the best possible online source for crocodilian captive care.

"The Ultimate Guide to Crocodilians in Captivity" by Chris Dieter (frequents this forum) is an awesome guide at a very reasonable price.

I am a keeper of large constrictors as well, and I can rest assure you that keeping these animals is NOTHING like a snake. You can recieve injuries from these animals that make snake bites look like papercuts.

Hope this helps,
chris

about dwarf caiman... go to this link:

http://crocodilian.com/paleosuchus/

this is a great paga with very good info about dwafs... includes almost every thing you ask for...

good look

Rick

another website to visit. All about spec. caimans.
Link