Reptile & Amphibian Forums

One of my 2 nine month old baby smooth front dwarf caimen over the past few days has been acting strange. Normally he is the more aggressive of the 2 has now stopped hissing and has seemed to lost a lil weight. Today when I did their weekly tank cleaning I noticed his pupils were dialated and he kept swimming in place in the corner. I have both a heat and ubv basking lights at 95 degrees in the basking area, water is kept at 82 degrees and they are kept with rosies red and gold fish at all times and are fed pinkeys and crickets twice a week. I don't think I am doing anything wrong care wise but I contacted the only vet in the area with reptile exp. and they sd they have no clue on caimen but if I would like to try anyways I can bring him in on Monday after the new years holiday. I would like any advice on what this maybe or how to treat it or at least keep him ok for a few day till the vet will take him.
-----
Tom C.

0.1.0 emerald tree boa
1.3.0 albino nelsons milk snake
0.0.2 smooth front dwarf caimen
1.2.0 panther chameleons
0.0.1 columbian boa
0.0.1 red bearded dragon
0.0.1 tokay gecko
0.0.1 golden gecko
0.0.1 savannah monitor
0.0.1 leopord gecko
0.1.0 pit bull dog
0.1.0 mixed toy dog
2.0.0 mixed cats
0.0.1 blue and gold macaw
0.0.5 marble angel fish

Weekly tank cleaning? Do you have a filter on them? How large of a tank/cage are they in? The temps seem good can even bring the water up a little you want. Goldfish are bad for crocodilians. I am no expert just some advice. Believe it or not these guys can be overcome by stress pretty easily.
-----
Tom
0.0.1 California King Snake (booboo)
0.2.1 Sulcata Tortoise (tank, sahara and skittles)
0.0.2 Russian Tortoise (tito and lulu)
0.0.4 Red Ear Sliders (moe, uncle sam, bernie and ernie)
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)
2.2.0 Crazy Cats (babe, sabastian, tinkerbell and sadie)
0.1.0 Lion Head Rabbit (daisy)
0.0.1 Spectacled caiman (wilbert)
0.0.1 Aligator Snapping turtle
0.0.1 Mexican Red Knee Tarantula
1.0.0 Veiled Chameleon
0.0.1 Argentina Black and White Tegu
2.1.0 Columbian Red Tail Boas
1.2.0 Kenya Sand Boas
0.1.0 Green Iguana
1.0.0 Ball Python
1.0.0 Western Hognose Snake
1.0.0 Chocolate Skunk

yea i found out about gold fish for the first time today even though i have been researching these guys for yrs due to i have wanted one since i was a teenager and now have the space, money and what i thought was enough exp to care for them. But sadly i came home after running around for a lil bit after the last post and he was gone. I have ordered dewormer but it prob wont get hear till monday to give my other guy as a prevenitive but to ans. ur question he is in a 4 ft by 2 ft enclosure with 18 in. of land and one side basking one side has a hide that either of them never use, the remaining caimen is about 10 in. long. i cant get him to touch the mazuri croc chow. The stress level i didnt see as a issue due to my reptile rooms only traffic is my self 2 to 3 times a day but never loud or bothering them just feeding and cleaning. I just cant seem to get what was up with the dialated pupils, it makes me think ammonia poison from the gold fish maybe but the water was pretty clear. it hasent seemed to effected the other one. Also yes i have about 10 gals of water in the tank and the submersible filter is rated at 20 gals. i do the changes once a week due to when i was a kid i owned turtles and i remember what it smelled like if i didnt keep on top of them.
Sorry for rambaling im actually a lot more upset then i thought id be.
-----
Tom C.

0.1.0 emerald tree boa
1.3.0 albino nelsons milk snake
0.0.2 smooth front dwarf caimen
1.2.0 panther chameleons
0.0.1 columbian boa
0.0.1 red bearded dragon
0.0.1 tokay gecko
0.0.1 golden gecko
0.0.1 savannah monitor
0.0.1 leopord gecko
0.1.0 pit bull dog
0.1.0 mixed toy dog
2.0.0 mixed cats
0.0.1 blue and gold macaw
0.0.5 marble angel fish

Have you had a fecal done? If not you might not be treating properly. If you are going to shotgun dose for parisites i suggest panacur since there is a lot of room for error in dosing. It doesnt need ordered since it is used for just about every animal out there (including reptiles) and is readily availible. I get the one labeled for goats since it is the most economical size at my local tractor supply

i will try one tommarrow since they were closed today for new years. hopefully it works because the other one now has the dialation in the eyes now too but he's not lethergic as the other one was. i have a bowel sample waiting for when i take em monday to the exotic pet vet, but hopefully he lasts till the.
-----
Tom C.

0.1.0 emerald tree boa "cleopatra"
1.3.0 albino nelsons milk snake "no names yet"
0.0.1 smooth front dwarf caimen"magic ninja #1 rip ninja#2"
1.2.0 panther chameleons "princess,daddy,pinky"
0.0.1 columbian boa "etna"
0.0.1 red bearded dragon "spike"
0.0.1 tokay gecko "noisy"
0.0.1 golden gecko "24k"
0.0.1 savannah monitor "dicky"
0.0.1 leopord gecko "spot"
0.1.0 pit bull dog "coco"
0.1.0 mixed toy dog "hyde"
2.0.0 mixed cats "poofy and peaches"
0.0.1 blue and gold macaw "buddy"
0.0.5 marble angel fish

the second one didnt make it either. poor lil guys. well i guess some lessons in this hobby are learned the hard way. i wish that i would had known about something as simple as not to feed "feeder" gold fish to reptiles.
-----
Tom C.

0.1.0 emerald tree boa "cleopatra"
1.3.0 albino nelsons milk snake "no names yet"
0.0.1 smooth front dwarf caimen"magic ninja #1 rip ninja#2"
1.2.0 panther chameleons "princess,daddy,pinky"
0.0.1 columbian boa "etna"
0.0.1 red bearded dragon "spike"
0.0.1 tokay gecko "noisy"
0.0.1 golden gecko "24k"
0.0.1 savannah monitor "dicky"
0.0.1 leopord gecko "spot"
0.1.0 pit bull dog "coco"
0.1.0 mixed toy dog "hyde"
2.0.0 mixed cats "poofy and peaches"
0.0.1 blue and gold macaw "buddy"
0.0.5 marble angel fish

Sorry to hear about your losses. It's always tough to lose a pet then you have to deal with the guilt of possible husbandry issues. Unfortunately it may or may not have been attributed to the feeders. Someone else posted that a dead feeder given as food caused the death of their crocodilian. But others seem to use feeders without incident. I have been a python/boa keeper for years and am considering purchasing a dwarf caimen but will certainly research care and habitat maintenance thoroughly first.
Your post is about 2 months old. Did you happen to get any more insight as to what could have caused it?

>>the second one didnt make it either. poor lil guys. well i guess some lessons in this hobby are learned the hard way. i wish that i would had known about something as simple as not to feed "feeder" gold fish to reptiles.
>>-----
>>Tom C.
>>
>>0.1.0 emerald tree boa "cleopatra"
>>1.3.0 albino nelsons milk snake "no names yet"
>>0.0.1 smooth front dwarf caimen"magic ninja #1 rip ninja#2"
>>1.2.0 panther chameleons "princess,daddy,pinky"
>>0.0.1 columbian boa "etna"
>>0.0.1 red bearded dragon "spike"
>>0.0.1 tokay gecko "noisy"
>>0.0.1 golden gecko "24k"
>>0.0.1 savannah monitor "dicky"
>>0.0.1 leopord gecko "spot"
>>0.1.0 pit bull dog "coco"
>>0.1.0 mixed toy dog "hyde"
>>2.0.0 mixed cats "poofy and peaches"
>>0.0.1 blue and gold macaw "buddy"
>>0.0.5 marble angel fish