Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Does anyone have any experience with these animals? I recently found a website stating that these only grow to 4 feet long(females). I would apreciate any information.
Thanks

I have a pure spectacled and it is suppose to get between 6-8 feet.. thats what I was told and all the websites say roughly. They also have one hell of a temper on them most of them. Mine is shy and hides until you grab him then he goes insane but a guy I know had some and they would come flying to see if they can get food and not look what they are bighting lol....
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Tom
1.2.0 Leopard Gecko (dot, spot, casper)
0.0.1 California King Snake (booboo)
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Lots Of Fish

I've worked with many of these hybrid caiman and I don't recommend them for any one but advanced hobbyists. Whether or not they actually attain a length of no less than 4ft is not relevant. I worked for a reptile rescue for over 3 years and most of the animals we got were alligators and these spectacled x caiman. That is because people get these animals and then a year or two down the road they realize that they can't handle it anymore. They are dangerous and I have seen animals less than two feet long inflict serious injuries. I know it's hard but sometimes you need to step back and ask, "can I really handle keeping a wild animal like this?" I'm sorry if this has been a bit negative but I hope that you are able to make an educated decision about owning these animals. I'm sure everyone can agree that we do not need any more unwanted crocodilians added to the ever growing pool. It doesn't help the industry and it definately doesn't help the animals.

Sean

"Does anyone have any experience with these animals? I recently found a website stating that these only grow to 4 feet long(females). I would apreciate any information.
Thanks"

hi... as far as I know, ALL caimans are VERY aggresive animals....more than crocs...

I´ve seen a lot of adds saying that this hybrids only gro4 4-5 feet, but I donth think its true... most hybrids get bigger

I´d better go whit dwarf caimans P. palpebrosus... almost a devil, but really is small

cheers

Rick

Hi guys
I don´t agree at all with caimans being more aggressive than crocs.
I work in a crocodile zoo in Denmark and we have 21 of the 23 species of crocodilian.
The two species we don´t have, are the Orinoco and American crocodile.
In general i think the crocs are more agressive, than the caimans, alligators and garials.
The most placid of them all, are Amarican alligators and Chinese alligators. And almost as placid (especially adults) Are the dwarf caimans (palpebrosus). I know most of you guys think of palpebrosus as being agressive, but it´s not my experience at all.
When we clean the enclosure of the adult palpebrosus, they sometimes walk between our legs or sometimes they just lay right next to us without any form of agression.
In my believe some of the most agressive species is saltwater crocodile, new guinea crocodile, dwarf crocodile and broadsnouted caiman ( a caiman i know and the most dangerous is in my opinion the cuban crocodiles. And that´s because they don´t fear you at all. They just come right up to you and they are always hungry

Jonas

And just a question i forgot in my previous post.
What do you guys mean by spectacled x caimen?

And just to clarify: In my opinion all crocodilians are for experienced keepers only.
Keepers who have the experience, space, time and money to keep such animals.

Jonas

Jonas
They are referring to Spectacled X Yacare Caiman hybrids.
Some people claim these to be more docile and to achieve a smaller adult size than either of the purebred parents.
This claim is of course false and is simply a marketing tool.
21 out of 23 very impressive. I'm jealous.
However the 2 you are lacking happen to be 2 of my very favorite.
You have to get one or the other.
Aggression among crocodilians as in most other animals varies with each individual. I agree that certain species do however tend to be more aggressive. I agree that Salts are pretty fiesty.
I've only had 3 New Guineas and the biggest is only 6 feet. But they don't seem to be that aggressive. And Dwarf Crocs, I've only been around about 6 but they were big adults and they were all fairly docile. Palps I agree seem to be calm but Trigs are some of the scariest crocs out there.
I have 2 young adult female Siamese and they are very aggressive.
American gators of course are probably the calmest of them all.
Specs and Yacares are both pretty fiesty of course they don't get that big but are still extremely dangerous.
The most important point I agree with, not everyone needs a crocodilian. D.C.

Danny
Yes the siamese can be very aggressive also. We have a big breeding pair, that we have 2 babies from now. We hatched out the babies inside the enclosure and now they are growing up with mom amd dad. Not seen too often.
They usually are pretty aggressive, but now both mom and dad are very protective of the babies. It´s nice to watch, exept it makes cleaning much more difficult
I agree on the trigonatus being scary. I think they are shy, but if you corner them or try to catch them, you better be on your toes. In my experience they always hold on when they bite, scary. We have a42 year old, 6,5 foot male. He can be very scary to work with.
We are planning to get both intermedius and acutus in the nearest future. The first will be intermedius.

Jonas

Jonas
6.5 foot trig!!! That's a scarey animal. Mine is only 4.5 feet and when I have to handle him his neck scutes are so sharp and he is so powerful he cuts my hands. He also has a wicked growl.
6.5 is probably still small enough to do a 180 on you. Scarey.
Orinocos have long been one of my dream crocs, I think they are gorgeous. I have 1 American.
Parents raising the babies is something you don't often see in captivity. Good luck with that.
I was lamenting to a friend a while back that my collection is really diverse but incredibly unproductive. Most of my adults are female a problem I hope to rememdy soon.
Even living in Southwest Texas my electric bills will steadily climb up to the $1,000.00 a month range would hate to see your energy bill at the croc farm.lol...D.C.

Danny
Yeah the bill is crazy. About 5000 dollars a month and thats only for the electric.
The scutes on the trig is not that sharp anymore, he is an old boy. But on the young trigs, you will cut your hands every time.
you can look at our website www.krokodillezoo.dk
There is an english version, but i couldn´t make it work, maybe you can. At least you can look at pictures. Just browse through the meny on the left.

Jonas

Its been my experience that the nova's are very aggressive when young, exspecially the females (very cuban like) but most seem to really mellow out with age. Most of the larger specimens (7ft ish) have been very docile, to the point that one could hand feed (not that anyone would but you get the point).

Its also my experiance that the nova's of all age and size, paticulary the females are VERY aggressive towards other crocodilians.
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The sinensis, I havent really had much experience with yet but I know many who are keeping this species and everyone says there nasty little buggers ... very much unlike there american cousins.
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siamensis and porosus, as well as hybrids of the 2, I find to be quit aggressive! The siamenis and hybrids I find to be VERY active and VERY food aggressive.
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Palp's, I find these to be middle range. Mine are fine and dont bother you during cleaning, feeding, etc ... unless you touch or otherwise bother them, then all bets are off.
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trig's, very aggressive!
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The Specs, yacares and hybrids of the 2 I also find these all to be pretty aggressive little buggers. I personally find the hybrids to be slightly mellower than the pure bloods but that could just be individual personality traits of my specimens.
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Osteo's, im not sure how I would call these. I have some that are very mellow and some that think there salties

It´s very interesting that different people have such different experiences with the same species.
When we catch Sinensis, we pull them gently out of the water by the tail. Once on land you can grab them by the neck or just lift them up by placing one hand under their chest and one on the tail. I have done this often with 5 foot animals.

Jonas

Just wanted to add our sinensis are also very aggressive, particuarlly in the summer. We often joke that if our Niles where that bad tempered that none of us would ever be able to enter an enclosure.
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CDieter
'Reason, observation, and experience; the holy trinity of science.'

WOOOWWW...!!!!

21 species...??? WOOOWWW...!! again

I have a pair juvenil of palps, and they were real evils... but maybe as adults become more calm, as you say...

yo should post some pics of those 21 species and enclosures...

cheers

Rick

Rick
I will post some pics soon, but in the meantime look at our website: www.krokodillezoo.dk maybe the English version will work for you, otherwise you can at least look at the pictures.

Jonas

thanks Jonas...

I´ll take a look...

best wishes

Rick

I believe you are referring to the diamond caiman which is yacarexspectacle caiman not for beginners can be very agressive,in my opinion dwarf caiman are more shy than agressive.Happy Thanksgiving all