# Caiman!



## JHammer489 (Jul 14, 2009)

Heres my new caiman. We named her roxy. haha
But shes already eaten, and is doing great. The only thing she doesnt enjoy is the living room floor out in the open, as she gets royally pissed off in open spaces.


























Taken from a camera phone...so the quality isnt that great.


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## BRANT13 (Feb 18, 2009)

really cool.....how big do camens get?.....i cant imagine over 6 foot?......where will you be keeping her when she gets bigger


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## JHammer489 (Jul 14, 2009)

The females grow about 5.5 feet, so not too large, compared to other crocs. But Shes in a 29g bio cube right now LOL Shell be moved to a 55g, then a 125g, and when i move to a house, ill put it in one of those coy ponds with a fence around it.


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## BRANT13 (Feb 18, 2009)

well thats just awesome opcorn: what will you be feeding her when she gets to be that large?


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## JHammer489 (Jul 14, 2009)

May sound terrible, but rabbits, and large, uncooked fish.

Its really agressive, but AWESOME to have. I already love it.


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## BRANT13 (Feb 18, 2009)

you gonna trap rabbits?......i had a buddy with a huge python that would trap random animals in the cemetary at night once or twice a week and whatever ended up in the trap became snake food :wink:


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## KaiserSousay (Nov 2, 2008)

Mental note to self:
Look at Dallas Morning News for story of escaped caimen..in 2 years from now

Growth
"Oh noo, it grows veeery slowly and maximum size is about 1 meter"
...is what some pet store sales people tell you when you ask them. There are a couple of species of dwarf caimans that only grow to reach about 1.2-1.5m (4-5ft) in length but C.crocodilus, even though being a comparatively small crocodilian species can reach over 2m (6-7ft) in length. This means that C.Crocodilus (spectacled caiman, common caiman) is actually not the ideal crocodilian to keep as a pet, even though it might be the one most commonly sold as such. Unless you starve your caiman, it will quickly grow big enough to become difficult to handle and expensive to accommodate. 
Above from http://lonn.org/ragnar/croc/index.html

You have taken on as big a deal as having a baby. A baby that when a teenager, will not want to borrow the car, but eat the neighbors dog. 
Really do not want to pre judge, you are probably a responsible hobbyist that will commit to all the things this animal will require. 
We, in south Florida, are now dealing with the other kind of "pet" owner..the irresponsible, who have released enough ball pythons for them to have become a major problem in our wet lands.


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## BRANT13 (Feb 18, 2009)

you guys have got all kinds of problems down there with snakes my ole ladys brother lives in tampa and cleans out ponds....said one time he founds a 9 foot anaconda scared the **** outta him.....how are the hogs down there....he tells me theyre gettin pretty bad as well?


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## KaiserSousay (Nov 2, 2008)

BRANT13 said:


> you guys have got all kinds of problems down there with snakes my ole ladys brother lives in tampa and cleans out ponds....said one time he founds a 9 foot anaconda scared the #%$& outta him.....how are the hogs down there....he tells me theyre gettin pretty bad as well?


Almost as much damage as some of those "low life" contarctors did after our storms :x 
At least you can eat the hogs, the contractors taste just as bad as the quality of work done, no matter how much hot sauce you use.


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## JHammer489 (Jul 14, 2009)

Kaiser, im glad you found that! The sales person told me exactly what you said "Oh noo, it grows veeery slowly and maximum size is about 1 meter"

Well, to an extent, i expected it to grow quickly, but not over 2 years. The only downside to that is it will become more expensive faster. Even now in an apartment, I have all the space i could ever need to accomidate it, and if it became nessecary, i would build a coustom pond inside.

And if it ever got too large to handle, i WOULD find a zoo to donate it to. I would not sell, kill, or release it into a pond or stream. In addition to being just plain stupid, it could ruin ecosystems, as well as harm other people.

But about feeding...
Here in texas, we have an infestation of rabbits. I drove up to my parents house last night and there were...no lie...6 rabbits in their small front yard. Im going to set a trap there when the caiman grows bigger and do some rabbit population control. HAHA


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## dogofwar (Apr 5, 2004)

Two words that shouldn't be in the same sentence: caiman and apartment.


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## BRANT13 (Feb 18, 2009)

dogofwar said:


> Two words that shouldn't be in the same sentence: caiman and apartment.


unless you had approval :wink:


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## K20Z3 (Jul 18, 2008)

You can come and trap rabbits in my yard anytime you want!

I used to have one and so did my buddy. You think it's mean now, just wait! Once they realize that their teeth can draw blood, they seem to get meaner!

My buddy kept his until it got to about 4 feet long in an outdoor pond. I kept mine until it was about 2 feet long. We both got rid of them. Way to much work!

Good luck with yours!


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## JHammer489 (Jul 14, 2009)

Hey your from frisco too.
Do you happen to have any pics of your friends outdoor pond? Id like to see some examples of what i may do when she gets larger.


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## AnnaFish (Aug 9, 2006)

Wow.

I would be lying if I didn't think it was the cutest thing ever.

And to be honest, I think they're cute when they're big too.

But I live in Florida. And a gator's my alma mater's mascot.

I wouldn't be so presumptuous as to flame you before I read about your menace pet in the paper. Until then -- she's adorable and I love her and I hope you have a great time with her and I hope SHE has a great life with YOU.

And, as a Floridian -- YES the ball pythons are getting ridiculous. And did you know that one of the suspected sources is not just crappy owners, but damaged pet stores during Hurricane Andrew?

Also the Hogs.

Guess what park rangers do when they find fresh dead hogs in the forest?

They have a huge bar-b-q and invite all the locals! 

Last week there was a man on my street with a 7 foot gator in his driveway.

Dead.

I didn't know if the hunting licence lottery had taken place or not. So I just whistled to myself and drove on by.


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## TNprogrammer (Jul 28, 2008)

On the subject of "wild animals in apartments"....
back in '90, one of my fraternity brothers brought his 6 month old pet mountain lion to live in his apt. for a while. Then it got out one day. We managed to corral it, get it back in his truck and hustle it back to his house in the country. THAT was a real adventure. It was all over the news. The authorities never did figure out where it came from


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## dogofwar (Apr 5, 2004)

Too funny. I gotta believe that the mountain lion as a pet didn't end well.

I'd bet that just about anyone who's been a handyman / property manager for an apartment complex for awhile could tell you a "I went into the apartment to fix the <toilet> and the crazy MF-er living there had a <fill in the wild animal that's innapropriate to keep in an apartment>.



TNprogrammer said:


> On the subject of "wild animals in apartments"....
> back in '90, one of my fraternity brothers brought his 6 month old pet mountain lion to live in his apt. for a while. Then it got out one day. We managed to corral it, get it back in his truck and hustle it back to his house in the country. THAT was a real adventure. It was all over the news. The authorities never did figure out where it came from


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## RyanR (Apr 29, 2008)

Caimans can be nasty.

There's a herp shop about an hour from here where the owner works hard to "socialize" the animals. As a result, he's got 3-4 foot gators that are almost as tame as puppies. Scratch 'em behind the ears kinda stuff.

...but the caimans? He said he's gotten nowhere with them. Just nowhere. :lol:

-Ryan.


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## K20Z3 (Jul 18, 2008)

RyanR said:


> Caimans can be nasty.
> 
> There's a herp shop about an hour from here where the owner works hard to "socialize" the animals. As a result, he's got 3-4 foot gators that are almost as tame as puppies. Scratch 'em behind the ears kinda stuff.
> 
> ...


That is what I have heard as well. I tried with mine, and once he learned he could bite and hurt you, it was over from there. He seemed to just bite because he could LOL.

I don't have any pics of my buddies outside enclosure. This was back in the early '90s. He used one of the larger kid pools from WalMart for the pond part. Nothing to look at, but it held water.

Good Luck


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## JHammer489 (Jul 14, 2009)

On the topic of maintnance in the apt...
out a/c just went out. i bet the repair man will have quite the sotry to tell when he gets back from my place.

"your not going to believe what these crazy guys had...a dog, ball python, a tank full of piranhas...and a F'n alligator!"


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## KaiserSousay (Nov 2, 2008)

> Scratch 'em behind the ears kinda stuff


I guess you could use a stump for scratching
:lol:


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## heylady (Oct 14, 2004)

When I was a teengager (oh so very many years ago) I had a caimen. Very cute as a youngster but it quickly grew big and mean. I was lucky that I lived close to Brookfield zoo in Chicago and they were kind enough to take it when it got too big to handle. It might be a good idea to just give your local zoo a call and see if they even _would_ take it if need be as many zoo's are full up with unwanted exotics...

I kept mine in a kiddie pool down in the basement for quite some time. The worst part was trying to clean his pool out (they're very messy and smelly)...dang if it didn't turn into a reptile rodeo every time!! Oh and I used to feed him raw chicken. Back then it was cheap enough to do this... :wink:


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## mok3t (Nov 28, 2008)

Pretty sure i remember Steve Irwin saying he'd rather deal with a 12ft croc than a 5ft caiman. They're just meaner.


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