Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello everyone, I am writing to because of the lack of an exotic pet veterinarian in my country (Greece), I have searched but not found a vet specialized in crocodians.

I am the owner of a 3 year old (2 feet) spectacled caiman in a 2 by 5 feet eclosure (half water, half land) with a temperature of 28 Celcius in both. He has not been fed properly for the last year (only sardene) and spends very little on no time in the basking spot. For the past 3 months his diet has been better, as he eats 2 mice per week.

He has been showing a strange behavior for the last 2 days. After I handled him (the last time was 1.5 year ago) to clean his tank, he has been showing signs of instability, and spending a lot of time underwater due to stress I suppose. He has a difficult time stepping on his left "hand" and "leg" and is using mostly the claws to move on the underwater surface and cannot go on land because of this.

Could this behavior be due to the stress I caused him, or a different reason? From my little experience, I can sense that he is in a bad condition, (for the first time, yesterday he did not eat). Your advise would be really much appreciated, thank you in advance!

Best Regards
Minos

I am no expert by far but, From your description it sounds like a bone or muscular deformaty from the improper diet. Also your cage definitely sounds to small especially the part of only two feet wide. And half land and half water that's only 2.5 feet of water so basically he can just climb in an out. Sounds like many stressful situations for your caiman. I also have a spectacled caiman and he is 2.5-3 feet and in a six foot by four foot cage all is water and then a platform over part to climb out on and bask.
-----
Tom
1.2.0 Leopard Gecko (dot, spot, casper)
0.0.1 California King Snake (booboo)
0.2.1 Sulcata Tortoise (tank, sahara and skittles)
0.0.2 Russian Tortoise (tito and lulu)
0.0.2 Red Ear Sliders (bernie and ernie)
0.0.1 Painted Turtles (moe)
0.0.1 Western Soft shell (Squirt)
1.1.0 Bearded Dragon (marshmellow and Sparkles )
0.0.1 Sumatran Water Monitor (Tiny)
1.0.0 Peachfront Conure (kermit)
0.1.0 Love Bird ( KIKI )
1.2.0 Dog (layla, Roxy and Rosco)
2.1.0 Crazy Cats (babe, sabastian, tinkerbell)
0.1.0 Lion Head Rabbit (daisy)
0.1.2 Ferret (jordan RIP, Cosmo and Izzy)
0.0.1 White Tree Frog (dumpy jr.)
0.0.1 Fire Belly Toad (ferdinan)
0.0.1 Spectacled caiman (wilbert)
0.0.3 Green Anoles
1.0.0 Bahama Anole
0.0.1 Giant Millipede
0.0.1 Aligator Snapping turtle
0.0.1 Mexican Red Knee Tarantula
0.0.1 Emporor Scorpion
1.0.0 Veiled Chameleon
0.0.1 Argentina Black and White Tegu
2.1.0 Columbian Red Tail Boas
Lots Of Fish

what would you suggest in a situation like that?

Ok, so I kind of figured out what the problem is, with a lot of reading and talking to an expert vet via the phone.
The caiman after was handled after a year or so, was overstressed which caussed immunοsuppretion leading to health problems that were hidden ready to show their signs. The most probable explanation is symptoms of MBD. It seems that the stress days are over though as it is getting more and more active.
It has not eaten since, but yesterday night I left a small dead mouse in the cage which in the morning was decapitated and not eaten whole. So this means a struggle to get fed. Aproper diet from now on, I hope will make things better. I'm also planning on making a bigger space.
My problem is that it is not getting any UV because it spends all day in water (or does he?).
Is it a solution to leave the uvb and spot lamps working during the night in case it gets out, or will it cause a night-day confusion?

Yea that's what I was thinking MBD. There's not much to do for that except proper diet. I wouldn't worry to much my spec only gets uv sometimes and eats and is growing good you got to remember specs are nocturnal and most active at night so would not leave it on at night.
-----
Tom
1.2.0 Leopard Gecko (dot, spot, casper)
0.0.1 California King Snake (booboo)
0.2.1 Sulcata Tortoise (tank, sahara and skittles)
0.0.2 Russian Tortoise (tito and lulu)
0.0.2 Red Ear Sliders (bernie and ernie)
0.0.1 Painted Turtles (moe)
0.0.1 Western Soft shell (Squirt)
1.1.0 Bearded Dragon (marshmellow and Sparkles )
0.0.1 Sumatran Water Monitor (Tiny)
1.0.0 Peachfront Conure (kermit)
0.1.0 Love Bird ( KIKI )
1.2.0 Dog (layla, Roxy and Rosco)
2.1.0 Crazy Cats (babe, sabastian, tinkerbell)
0.1.0 Lion Head Rabbit (daisy)
0.1.2 Ferret (jordan RIP, Cosmo and Izzy)
0.0.1 White Tree Frog (dumpy jr.)
0.0.1 Fire Belly Toad (ferdinan)
0.0.1 Spectacled caiman (wilbert)
0.0.3 Green Anoles
1.0.0 Bahama Anole
0.0.1 Giant Millipede
0.0.1 Aligator Snapping turtle
0.0.1 Mexican Red Knee Tarantula
0.0.1 Emporor Scorpion
1.0.0 Veiled Chameleon
0.0.1 Argentina Black and White Tegu
2.1.0 Columbian Red Tail Boas
Lots Of Fish

Thank you a lot,
I hope everything goes well from now on, I will keep you posted with updates.
M.

Hello,

I agree with the others that MBD is likely the problem here. I doubt the limited handling the animal had was a factor in any of it's problems. The largest problem appears to be the diet. I would switch to a whole animal diet(which you have already done) and offer some supplements inside other food items.

I would do away with fish in the diet totally. We rarely use it and frankly that is a choice made years ago as the animals looked better on other dietary items.

One other thing, I wouldn't worry about UV at all. A properly fed caiman will not require UV bulbs for good health. Rather than leave the lights on all the time to get the animal UV i would go the other way and leave them off for several days to reduce the animals stress before worrying about a basking site. JJust make sure you water is warm enough.
website

-----
CDieter
'Reason, observation, and experience; the holy trinity of science.'

Thanks a lot Mr. Dieter,
Your book was very helpful along the way on raising such an interesting animal.
I suppose the most important is to reduce stress as much as possible these days, and observe.
I hope all goes well from now on, I will keep everyone posted, on the progress.
M.