american ali or caiman

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kakojones

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Sep 29, 2006
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Florida
My friend is building an enclosure for a caiman or an american ali. right now he has a 75 to set up until the enlosure is done. I just want to know (since I of course will have to help build/setup anything) how important are the water parameters for a crocodilian? What would be the best feeder fish for one? and gallons per foot vs dry area per foot?

I was thinking that the water should be clean enough for the feeders and maybe some monsters that may be ok with it. As far as feeders I was thinking convicts and mollies while its smaller with the occasional mouse. The gallon/dry area per foot, I have no idea. He should be doing research, but i want to make sure if he is about to pork it...i can keep that from happening as there is a lot of bad info out there.

We have both kept plenty of monitors, iguanas, snakes, and fish so as far as actual care we are pretty solid and there is a vet in our area that works on herps. I'm just worried about size restraints on living quarters the most.

Don't worry about when it gets too big also, there is a mom and pop type zoo here that has taken a few of our overgrown pets before. They have enclosures for the big guys.

Thanks in advance for any info.
 
this website my answer some queries http://crocodilian.com/crocfaq/faq-4.html
i wouldnt bother at all if all youre going to do is to give it to some kind of shelter type place, as i'm sure they have enough people that dont know what they are getting themselves into loading crocodilians etc onto them. you could go down the caiman route and depending on species you are looking at 5(probably more) to 8 feet. this is a big thing, make sure you know what you are doing and can take care of it for life.
 
smoothfront caiman are the way to go. gators get to big.
 
Paleosuchus trigonatus are slightly bigger than their cousin paleosuchus palpebrosus, and i have heard more agressive. i didn't think they are too common in the pet trade, but maybe they are becoming more available
 
If he gets a caiman that will stay at 10' or less, we can build an enclosure on his property. he's got a lot of room, just not enough for a 15 foot monster. we already mapped out a 20X15 area I've decided to tell him no gator eventhough the local mom & pop type zoo would be a good place for it to go. Another friend's iguana went there when he started to get really nasty, we used to go visit him once a month.
 
from what i understand, a lot if not all crocodilians eventually get "nasty" no matter how much you handle them or try when they are younger. Sorry but to me the comment about passing it on is basically saying you cant care for it properly? but maybe you just worded it wrong or i interpretted it wrong. is this mapped out area 20 by 15 ft or meters? it will depend on your species how much land and how much water you should allocate your croc but its going to have to be able to completely submerge itself in water and be able to move in it, aswell as having a lot of space on land (which a lot of dwarf species need) to move around comfortably, (around 3 times its length). but as with a lot of things, bigger is better and more beneficial. it might be easier to give advice on a specific croc when your friend chooses one. to be honest i have no first hand experience with crocs, and there is a lot of information out there on husbandry on the net and in book format but it may be most useful going to that mom and pop zoo to ask for advice and anyone else with first hand experience. i think there are a handful of peeps who keep/have kept but either dont frequent to often or this thread has passed them by i dont know, but yea...
 
If the area is only 20x15 feet, a small caiman would be better. That area is way to small for an animal that will grow past about 6 feet.
Give it at least a 50/50 water to land ratio. Water area should be deep enough that it can swim in, not just soak. Feeder fish are not a good idea. Diet is a HUGE part of well being for crocodilians. Mix it up with birds and small mammals. too much fish is a bad thing. Water quality is very important. Stagnent bacteria filled water has cost many captive crocs their lives. Keep it churing over with at least a recirculation pump (assuming you're doing a pond that will not be filtered).
 
Thanks for the info zoodiver. While its still little we were thinking feeder fish, the occasional mouse (or pinky), and some chicken meat. Maybe a crawfish once and a while.
As for the enclosure we can go about five feet further in both directions. We were planning on a filtered pond with good water flow as we want to keep some fish in there for him to snack on.

We don't want to hand it off to anyone, but if something happens where we can't care for it we have a place to take it that has taken plenty of overgrown pets.
(the iguana that i mentioned in an earlier post just turned horribly nasty one day and wouldn't let anyone touch him, we would pet him and feed him before that day)
 
Chicks and mice are good staples in juvie gator diets. Supplement with fish about once a week, and make sure to fast them one day a week as well. More likely than not, once he realizes he's getting fed by you, he will ignore the fish in the pond. Not to say he won't grab one from time to time.
 
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