# Other Animals > Other Pets >  LB's ***TEMPORARY*** Tank

## Laura

As some of you know I rescued a 13" Culvier's Dwarf Caiman (L.B. or Little B*tch) about three days ago from a man who had her in pretty bad conditions (living in a tupperware, improper lighting, etc...). My plan is to make her a large enclosure in my garage of about 12' by 12' but she was given to me in a large gray container and thus for three days has hung out in my bathtub with some cleaverly duct-taped lights and make-shift land. 





Tonight I gathered up some men (with the reward of beer and pizza...humans are such simple creatures!) to drive out to my mom's house about 45 minutes away and load up my old 125 gallon aquarium I used to keep a pair of hypo-red bearded dragons in and bring it back to my place. We got back about 9:30. It's slightly after 3am and I just finished my initial set up. 



DISCLAIMER: I know this tank is too small for her even now, but it is VERY temporary while I build a SUPER cool and spacious one. Also, my house is a mess. The addition of a rescued ferret, two salamanders, and a caiman has made my life a bit chaotic. Any comments, suggestions or the like would be appreciated. 


 So here's the build, bit by bit: 

1. I went out yesterday and bought/gathered all necessary parts for the build and did some construction for the lid etc... I found some old filters I had laying about as well as a UW heater. My friend Tommy works for a landscaping company and he said I could come and have my pick of the landscaping "discard" pile as long as I collected it and hauled it off myself. I gathered what I could and loaded it into the back of my Camry. I walk my dog by a local creek and I found this really cool shaped dead stump. I took it home, pressure washed it, and then drilled it into some slate (with help of my handy friend Steve). 





Drilling through slate is super hard, I don't recommend it and will probably never do it again. 




That was some of the stuff and about 1/2 the gravel I got for the tank. The long tupperware container is what the previous owner had housed LB in with a shoddy-made screen dome over it and a really dirty cinder block (below) for her to crawl out onto but she was too big and could never completely dry off. 



2. Once the tank was in place and the pizza was consumed I started the ever tedious process of washing EVERYTHING (including the tank) in a low-bleach water solution. 



3. I started loading everything into the tank how I thought I wanted it. It took some rearranging and redesigning but I finally got it situated. I used some brick and slate to protect the underwater heater and fogger (two things I haven't actually turned on because my water and humidity temps have been AWESOME) 










(water and humidity readings from BEFORE I finished the build.)

4. The tank had a make-shift screen top on it that I had used for the beardies but I knew that wasn't going to work for the Caiman as their humidity has to be much higher. I went and got some ply wood from the garage which I measured and cut and then further mutilated with an electric jig saw. I drilled some holes to allow for some humidity escape, a "feeding hatch" and I cut larger holes for the lighting. I also painted the whole thing brown. The lights are screwed onto the top basically because I have cats and they love to mess with things otherwise I would have just placed them and not have screwed them down.  This is where I also made my first major mistake. The wood swells slightly with the humidity (already!) and it kinda warps up. This isn't a huge deal as it is cut into three sections and fits snugly on top of the tank. It just doesn't look as nice. 




5. After everything was situated to how I liked it, I added water (treated with ReptiSafe). 


6. Wrangle caiman from bath tub, release into water. Add meat. Done. 


On a some-what unrelated note: Once LB is in her big perma-home I'll need something else to home here. Any suggestions?

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## Martin

Not a single attachment works, unfortunately. I would love to see the process.

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## Laura

> Not a single attachment works, unfortunately. I would love to see the process.


I think I fixed the problem, Thanks!

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## Jen

LB certainly is lucky to have found you!  

Great temporary tank....if this is the work you put into a temporary tank then I can not wait to see her full enclosure!

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## Martin

I second Jenste's statement! The real, full-size enclosure is going to be amazing, considering this amount of work on a temp-tank.
LB sure came to the right home.

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## Brian

I'll third Jenste's statement :Smile: . Nice work on the temporary tank, and can't wait to see the full size version!

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## Kitten

Fantastic job on the temporary enclosure! I, too, can't wait to see her permanent home! LB was definitely one lucky Caiman to come into your hands.

As for what to house in the 125 gallon once LB is moved....you should do an AWESOME dart frog tank! XD

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## Laura

Morning update! I decided to give you guys an update while i'm thawing some raw steak for LB. The tank seemed to have held it's humidity really well over the night and temperatures dropped but just the appropriate amount. One of the thermometers I had sticking to the tank came free and was floating in the water... this wasn't completely unexpected since I used the super cheap ones I had laying around. I'm going to PetCo or PETsMART to get a new heat bulb (as mine is slightly cooler than I like) and I'll probably pick up an actually decent temp and humidity probe. Anyway, the real test to see how she likes her tank is how well she'll eat. *fingers crossed*



Chuck tries to figure out exactly what is in that tank.



Waiting for her breakfast.

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## Martin

You know what to do... Cat vs caiman, round one, FIGHT!

In all seriousness, what temperature do you keep it in (not trying to poke at you or correcting you, just curious (I know close to nothing about crocodillians))? And what size is that tank, dimension-wise? It looks huge.

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## Laura

> You know what to do... Cat vs caiman, round one, FIGHT!
> 
> In all seriousness, what temperature do you keep it in (not trying to poke at you or correcting you, just curious (I know close to nothing about crocodillians))? And what size is that tank, dimension-wise? It looks huge.


I keep both the water and ambient air at right around 31-33 degrees Celsius with the basking spot no higher than 40. Humidity sits at nearly the same- about 80-90%. The tank is 2 meters long, half a meter back, and .6 meters tall. It's slightly over 492 litres. She's about 33 centimeters long so she has some space but I would still like to give her more.

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## Martin

You just won the Internet, talking in metric and celsius instead of that US gibberish. Faith in humanity? Restored!  :Wink:

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## Laura

> You just won the Internet, talking in metric and celsius instead of that US gibberish. Faith in humanity? Restored!


I don't understand why everything isn't in metric anyway. It's so much easier. I was raised in New York but my mom is from Germany and my dad is a biology professor at Cambridge (although he too is American). I grew up knowing both which makes conversion easy but I am still astounded that the US hasn't switched over to the universal norm. Well it doesn't really astound me... considering it's america.  :Frown:

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## Brian

Also a bravo on the metric from me. I find myself defaulting to imperial on this forum as the membership seems skewed to the US, so it's nice to see metric from someone with a US flag under their name :Smile: .


How did the feeding go?

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## Laura

> Also a bravo on the metric from me. I find myself defaulting to imperial on this forum as the membership seems skewed to the US, so it's nice to see metric from someone with a US flag under their name.
> 
> 
> How did the feeding go?


Thanks for the kind support of my rebellious measurements. LOL. 

The feeding went OK. She didn't eat until well into the evening when her lights turned off. They are nocturnal so I guess if she's a night-time snacker i'll know to put her food out later so it doesn't rot. She ate a HUGE piece of raw bloody steak. It was beautiful and I am proud.  :Smile:

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## thadmy

I love the temp set-up. I plan on getting a Smooth Fronted Caiman when I move into a bigger house since my little apartment is already crowded with what I have. Can't wait to see the final enclosure..

Only question I have is won't LB pull up the live plants you have planted. I had an alligator a few years back and all she did was pull up plants and unroot them.

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## Laura

> I love the temp set-up. I plan on getting a Smooth Fronted Caiman when I move into a bigger house since my little apartment is already crowded with what I have. Can't wait to see the final enclosure..
> 
> Only question I have is won't LB pull up the live plants you have planted. I had an alligator a few years back and all she did was pull up plants and unroot them.


So far I have not had an issue with the plants at all. I do leave live mice in the tank for her and they actually do more damage. She is still getting uused to her enclosure but I am always prepared for chaos. Lol. Her outside pond is coming along and I will have photos up as soon as possible.

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## Tony

Outside pond...it is going to suck to catch her every fall, especially as she get bigger over the years. When I first saw the topic I though " really, why would someone want that as a pet?" But after seeing this and what you have planned, I believe this is the best place for her. Almost makes me want one, but I am happy to live vicariouly on this one. I applaud you for your efforts and dedication and am looking forward to updates.
Any chance of some feeding pics or video?
In regards to the metric thing, I am a transplanted American and could not agree more. Metric is better. I use both systems everyday at work.

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## thadmy

I agree I'm an American Medical student and I use metric all the time, just seems easier to me although my classmates don't see it that way.

Yeah I love me my crocs, I had a gator I used to walk on a dog lease with a muzzle

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## Laura

> Outside pond...it is going to suck to catch her every fall, especially as she get bigger over the years. When I first saw the topic I though " really, why would someone want that as a pet?" But after seeing this and what you have planned, I believe this is the best place for her. Almost makes me want one, but I am happy to live vicariouly on this one. I applaud you for your efforts and dedication and am looking forward to updates.
> Any chance of some feeding pics or video?
> In regards to the metric thing, I am a transplanted American and could not agree more. Metric is better. I use both systems everyday at work.


Hopefully my masterful design (*wink*) will prevent the necessity of catching her in the winter. Temps where I live in North Carolina rarely drop below freezing so my plan thus far is a system of hot-water-exchange tubing for the pond (basically I took apart an old hot-tub and hooked it up to a thermostat) and then for outside the water I have a 120 watt basking halogene bulb that I can lower and raise on a pulley-system to keep the temperature ok for her "hot stone". Then I also am building a hot-water-bottle hide. Which is basically a large tube cut in half over a system of hot-water bladders (empty boxed-wine-water bottles with wire-coil-heaters running through the base) which are then subsequently covered in moss and soil and insulating rubber.

It's a work-in-progress but hopefully it will eliminate the need for a stressful move for her and me. 

As far as feeding videos go, I'll try to get one posted as soon as I can. She just ate today and I usually feed every other day.

Thanks for the all the support with her. She's living up to her name-sake but a magnificent creature to watch.

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## froglover27

This is an AMAZING tank!( and temporary none the less) Cant wait for more pics!!!(:

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## Laura

For those of you who have asked... here the link to a video of LB eating a mouse. I guess if you have feelings about mice being eaten then you shouldn't watch it. Here's my short rant about it: 
1. For LB who was fed only lean-cuts of meat for the first 2 1/2 years of her life eating WHOLE animals is very important as she absorbs calcium through eating bones. 
2. I raise my own mice to use as feeders. This allows me to make sure the mice are treated humanely all the way up until freezing or feeding. This also allows me to make sure the mice have the most nutritional diet. Healthy mice=Healthy herps. 
3. So at this point you may ask why I don't just feed frozen/thawed and the answer is: I do. **Most** of LB's food is f/t however while she is recovering from her poor care it's important for her to move around (she is used to just hiding in a corner) and providing her live food certainly gets her on the prowl. I find that by giving her live food she is more apt to go chase it, eat it, and then bask. 

Anyway, If you have any questions please feel free to ask. 

Link:  Mice Eating....nom nom nom - YouTube

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## thadmy

Amazing just amazing, always liked giving my gator a live mouse once in awhile the bones are GREAT for them

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## Jen

I enjoyed this - - watching the ripples in the water as LB realized something was going on in the tank and having them ripple in to view before her....It would be perfect with the jaws sound track!

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## pansie

wow, very neat

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## PinkyandBrainz

I absolutely LOVE your temp enclosure!!!! I can't wait to see what her final enclosure looks like! She's such a lucky little girl to find someone who'll spoil her. ^_^

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## Tony

That video was great. I assumed she would wait for the mouse to get close, but LB was having none of the waiting stuff. I can't believe how little she is for being more than 2.5 years old. Is that normal and if not is she stunted?

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