Caroline, the Cuvier's Dwarf Caiman, Progress Thread

Progress thread for the dwarf caiman I just got yesterday. I made a build thread of her enclosure: https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...special-guest)

She's just a little smaller than I anticipated, so that enclosure will work for awhile, but I plan to build a display enclosure in the near-ish future (and many more after that, as she keeps growing).

Baby crocodilians make the cutest laser beam noises, which she was doing when I unboxed her. So my feeding signal is going to be "pew pew."

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/ve9qzev.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/LTxAx8V.jpg

So cool!! I really look forward to following this thread.

Congrats W. Crocodilians are a little too much for me but I'm really looking forward to watching this thread. You won't have to worry about any more wasted rodents. 🙂

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by EL-Ziggy

Congrats W. Crocodilians are a little too much for me but I'm really looking forward to watching this thread. You won't have to worry about any more wasted rodents. 🙂

---

That's what my alligator snapper was for, but she's so picky!!

Put two medium dubia roaches in there last night and when I got back tonight, one was missing. Though it's possible it was brushed up under the rocks. So I put a shrimp and a roach to leave tonight in a place that will show more certainly that it was eaten.

Also, I got the filter from amazon yesterday, so I installed that. No suction cups because I've read a story that it's possible they could eat them, if there's no substrate available. As sometimes they eat stones to help with buoyancy and grinding of food.

She did not eat the roach, as I found it by the filter this morning. But she ate the shrimp for sure! I saw some little shredded bits leftover. Eating already. What a relief.

I have a bunch of pinkies that the turtle wont touch, so I'll try those too. Wishing I didnt give away the calcium powder I had.

Congratulations! I am goi g to enjoy the progression on this little cutey!!! I can’t lie I am slightly jealous! I would love to have one or two one day.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'm ecstatic! She's doing so well already. She ate both pinkies I left (on the land section, so there's no doubt). Plus, she's already stopped hiding when I enter the room.

I´m jealous. Say hi to Caroline for me. :love:

Tried tong feeding. Almost worked.

https://youtu.be/4ZHMeme0KkY

Look at that fat belly!! Lmao

https://i.imgur.com/1XI9oqJ.jpg

Because the slope of the tub and variable sizing of the slate stones, it was creating some cave systems. I was a little back and forth on whether this was okay. I'm sure she loves to hide there. But that makes it more difficult to tame her down some because whenever I go into the room, she'll just hide, and I need her to associate me with something not so bad. Hard to do that when she's hiding.

So I took her out of the tub (that was hard to do, she is nippy!) And rearranged the stones to remove the caves.

Took the opportunity and snapped a quick pic and video. She was obviously stressed, so I didn't want to dilly dally though.

The video is here: https://www.instagram.com/p/B_QrKdtH...d=ujk1egxdj4by

https://i.imgur.com/UbLayyJ.jpg

Every two days, I've been feeding her either a shrimp or 3 mouse pinkies coated in calcium powder. I tried a rat pinky, but she did not eat it; I think it was too big. But she's been eating very consistently.

I've also been sitting with her for 20-30 minutes everyday without taking her out.

https://i.imgur.com/6joGWHj.jpg

Pretty cool!!! I'm curious, what do you feed a caiman

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Bodie

Pretty cool!!! I'm curious, what do you feed a caiman

---

Every two days, I feed either 1-2 shrimp, 3-4 mice pinkies, or 1 small rat pinky.

She looks great! :gj:

I'm so looking forward to following this progression thread! Caroline looks great :)

I have discovered a very specific method of getting her to eat reliably. She has been eating, so I havent been concerned, but it was very sparse and sometimes skipped entirely. But this method has worked the last 3 feeding days: place a rat pinky half on land and half on water and leave overnight.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by wnateg

I have discovered a very specific method of getting her to eat reliably. She has been eating, so I havent been concerned, but it was very sparse and sometimes skipped entirely. But this method has worked the last 3 feeding days: place a rat pinky half on land and half on water and leave overnight.

---

At least you found something that works.

https://i.imgur.com/LIu1iVD.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/4y0gNRF.jpg

Cool she's eating reliably now. How's her temperament been?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by dakski

Cool she's eating reliably now. How's her temperament been?

---

Not spectacular. I took a break from handling because I think the stress stopped her from eating. Then this was the first handling since she's been eating reliably. Maybe it will stress her out again, but its work that needs to be done, otherwise it will never get better. Anyway, yes, I was bit a few times trying to get her out. It's actually harder to avoid that with babies because they pretty much can bite you from any direction, especially in the water. But once we set on the couch, she pretty much just sat there.

Ominous...

https://i.imgur.com/92TN4Nq_d.webp?m...fidelity=grand

She is looking good.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Kam

She is looking good.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

---

Yea, the base of her tail is looking so thick. I haven't seen her in like 4 months, so I was pretty surprised how much bigger she's gotten. She's been eating small mice reliably.

Wow so cool!!

how big is she now ?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Phillydubs

Wow so cool!!

how big is she now ?

---

Well a half cinder block is 8", so she looks about 8" svl and easily 12" total.