whats the smallest cage needed
- Thread starter Charles d
- Start date
never go for smallest size.. you need to think what size would the animal live comfortably..There's more then one dwarf sp. but 12x 6 it's that bad but 6x8 if it should be water and 4x6 land there aquatic reptiles water should be like 4 foot depth and wall height above the water line should be 5 foot they can jump like hell and are mean little bastards they try to bite the hand that feeds them before biting the food in the hand and I should Mention they go for the face when attacking prey or the owners American alligators are more docile but a large male 13'+ can bite you in half in about a 1/10 of a second so pick your poison
"There's more then one dwarf sp. but 12x 6 it's that bad but 6x8 if it should be water and 4x6 land there aquatic reptiles water should be like 4 foot depth and wall height above the water line should be 5 foot they can jump like hell and are mean little bastards they try to bite the hand that feeds them before biting the food in the hand and I should Mention they go for the face when attacking prey or the owners American alligators are more docile but a large male 13'+ can bite you in half in about a 1/10 of a second so pick your poison"
Some interesting points ! - Do you speak from experience ?
There are indeed two species of dwarf caiman - you can bank on both attaining a size of about 6 - 7ft - Both are less aquatic than either alligators or most other corcodillians and for P. palubrosus (cuviers) you want 1/3 water and 2/3 land as they spend the majority of their time on land once over about 18"
12 x 6 would be a good size enclosure and I know of at least 3 animals that live 'happily' in enclosures exactly this size. There should be plenty of vegetation (artificial would be best) and plenty of cover.
dwarf caimain are shy animals - not being particularly good for owner interaction although they are more nervous at smaller sizes.
Obviously if you purchased a juvenile then the enlcosure size would fit to suit moving it as it grew - although moving corcodilians is not fun at any size.
carl
Some interesting points ! - Do you speak from experience ?
There are indeed two species of dwarf caiman - you can bank on both attaining a size of about 6 - 7ft - Both are less aquatic than either alligators or most other corcodillians and for P. palubrosus (cuviers) you want 1/3 water and 2/3 land as they spend the majority of their time on land once over about 18"
12 x 6 would be a good size enclosure and I know of at least 3 animals that live 'happily' in enclosures exactly this size. There should be plenty of vegetation (artificial would be best) and plenty of cover.
dwarf caimain are shy animals - not being particularly good for owner interaction although they are more nervous at smaller sizes.
Obviously if you purchased a juvenile then the enlcosure size would fit to suit moving it as it grew - although moving corcodilians is not fun at any size.
carl
^ Yep, I was pretty sure the dwarfs were less aquatic than other crocs.
There's a hybrid caiman in the hobby, it lists as "diamond caiman" and is C. crocodylus x C. yacare (spec x black). Supposedly it maxes at 6'-7', if so it's probably a better choice than the dwarf or smoothfront due to the shyness issue. But I'm skeptical of the size as both specs and blacks get quite large...you never know with hybrids though. A farm down here produced them and I'm damned if I can remember the name.
There's a hybrid caiman in the hobby, it lists as "diamond caiman" and is C. crocodylus x C. yacare (spec x black). Supposedly it maxes at 6'-7', if so it's probably a better choice than the dwarf or smoothfront due to the shyness issue. But I'm skeptical of the size as both specs and blacks get quite large...you never know with hybrids though. A farm down here produced them and I'm damned if I can remember the name.
well im just going to say if your asking that then you dont have enough room so please dont get oneCharles d;2880631; said:what would be the smallest encloser needd for a dwarf caimen
