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RE: Any Alligator experts??? Please Help!
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by JHarrison on May 26, 2007
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If the alligator has the right basking temps and like others have said the right land to water ratio. Try crayfish for a food item. I have never had a gator or croc refuse crayfish unless there was other medical problems.
Jim Harrison
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RE: Any Alligator experts??? Please Help!
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by TPalopoli on May 28, 2007
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ok, my two cents...
if your gator isnt eating there is something quite wrong. I have found like monitors, if a crocodilian is not eating then it is the last sign of a serious problem. They tend to not show any symptoms until the last one...not eating, then they die.
I am not saying take him to a vet (yet). My advice would be some good heat. Heat his water so it feels pretty warm to you and provide a HOT basking area (as in 150 surface temp). Get him heated up. Once he is heated up things should start happening fast, he will thermoregulate and be ready for action. Throw a live mouse in there or med rat. Stick with some good whole foods. Can you catch some fish from a lake for him?
If this doesnt get him going then take him to a vet. Call around and make sure you have a vet that knows reptiles...not from books, but from experience and results.
Tom
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RE: Any Alligator experts??? Please Help!
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by SwampY on May 28, 2007
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out of curiosity, is the floor concrete? even with the temp being ok, concrete still draws heat out of something.
legend has it that the film crew of a very famous movie killed one of my friends snakes by leaving a pillow case on a concrete floor for about a day. The snakes body temp dropped wayyyyyyy lower than the surrounding air temp.
Funny they still had the "no animals were harmed... disclaimer" lol.
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RE: Any Alligator experts??? Please Help!
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by AquaHerp on May 29, 2007
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I'm honestly not wanting to start an argument here, however, it has been my experience that crocodilians will often (quite often) self-fast themselves and go off feed for a period of time, hence, not feed. However, this is not normally the case for small specimens. Yet the large crocs have no problem skipping a meal or two, or three.......We fast ours for a few months actually during the winter months with no recourse whatsoever. Again this is not to say that small snappers at three foot should be refusing food, they certainly should not! On the flip side, they should not be taking rats either, I'd still be offering mice as a staple, and fish, and of course crayfish as Jim pointed out.
Right now I'd be keeping watch on stress factors such as handling and how much you are interacting with it. These are things that will stress the animal and prevent it from feeding. Let the animal relax a bit and settle in and see how he does, this includes grabbing him up and carting him off to the vet. Although, if you can get a fecal from the animal you might want to run that to a vet and have it checked for parasites.
If all else fails, toss a half dozen large crickets in and that will many time kick in the predatory instinct as well.
Good luck and keep us posted.
DH
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