caiman enclosure q's

[Lepisosteus platyrhincus]

Got a few q's for an enclosure for a female cuvier's dwarf caiman. I thought about using plywood with a pond liner glued on and tons of heavy duty plastic glued on top and heavy duty landscape cloth with soil on top, with cut outs for preformed ponds for water. Think this will work? Or maybe use pond armour instead of plastic.
Any ideas on how to do the walls?
For I was thinking about 10' by 10' and 4' tall or mayb 15' by 10' and 4' tall.
Now lighting I have no clue. Want to try and use some of those LED lighting panels for energy savings. Somebody is using other versions for tank lighting. They come in many different versions.
Any other tips would be greatly apprecited and requested!!

 

[Conner]

So will the plywood "tank" part be raised up on a stand, with the preformed plastic pond suspended (supported) underneath the plywood? That sounds like it would be pretty neat, and not too difficult to do. Your idea for lining the plywood sounds a little overboard to me, but ought to do the trick.

 

[Lepisosteus platyrhincus]

yeah it would be raise and supported. its alittle over board but caiman got sharp claws. gotta be some people who have them able to chime in

 

[SimonL]

Why the pond liner on top of the wood?

 

[Lepisosteus platyrhincus]

so we wont have water getting into the wood and rotting it

 

[SimonL]

Ahh okay, you could just use marine grade ply...or coat it with some kind of sealant. I've seen many similar enclosures done with just ply. Not much water gets out, long as you don't overfill the plastic pond...

Here's the enclosure I built for mine, it's 6'x4'x4', should be good for several years, as Paleosuchus are slow growers. It's a 6x4 Laguna pond (which will eventually be the pond in a larger enclosure), with a 4x2.5 smaller laguna pond set inside. It's got a ceramic heat on 24/7, a day bulb, a lil' blue LED for night viewing and a fogger. The water area has a filter and heater.

 

[jonahonah]

Q why do people want caiman as pets? I have 6 at work mainly yacares some lacostris plus hybrids of the two and they are the meanest little sobs ever. Can never trust one of these they are always evil.

No mean to derail but somebody explain why?

 

[SimonL]

Well, in my case, I love prehistoric animals. Crocodilians are about as close to owning a dinosaur as you're going to get. Along with modern birds, crocodilians are the last surviving Archosaurs ("ruling reptiles").

To each his own, I don't understand people owning dangerous dogs...

 

[Lepisosteus platyrhincus]

im with simon on this issue. love my prehistorics. heck look at my fish preferences! gar!
and simon nice! mine is going to be hopefully a cage for life. i want to make it so it lasts for a long long time and if we choose to move i have to make it so i can take it apart and move it.
anybody have any experience in using pond armour? seems like it would be a good thing to use.
and for a female will a 15' by 10' by 4' tall work? could a 10' by 10' by 4' tall work?

 

[SimonL]

im with simon on this issue. love my prehistorics. heck look at my fish preferences! gar!
and simon nice! mine is going to be hopefully a cage for life. i want to make it so it lasts for a long long time and if we choose to move i have to make it so i can take it apart and move it.
anybody have any experience in using pond armour? seems like it would be a good thing to use.
and for a female will a 15' by 10' by 4' tall work? could a 10' by 10' by 4' tall work?

Unless you plan on buying an adult, don't start with something that size, you'll lose your caiman in there lol. They are pretty slow growing as well.