When do dwarf caimans grow the most?

Originally Posted by KRAZE

oh, and also... i have read from a few sources that maturity is based on the size of the animal and not the age in dwarf species... any input? (males at 3'6", females around 3')

I have heard both. Iv heard female smooth front(my prefered species, so the brunt of my research) dont reach maturity till approx 4 ft and males about 4.5ft, which by many reports I read, in the wild can take 10 to 20 years. The 20 years seems debatable but almost all I read says at least 10 years of age before maturity. I think your numbers for for cuviers which I am not that well versed in, sorry.

Side note, first vid that pops up for google search of smooth front caiman turns up mine. Sweet.

kraze i apoligize i misunderstood your post I thought you were saying your caiman was 5 years old and only 28 inches not 28 inches when you got your caiman and now almost 4 feet. again I apologize for that. As for my opinion on size versus age in my opinion its a little of both I mean you can have a reptile that is 6 years old but like your caimans previous owner treated her not in good condition and diet and even though it may reach age but not be able to breed or breeding can kill it due to not strong health but if cared for properly size and age would go closely hand and hand. Once again no expert but just opinions. and also good job turning the caiman around and getting the growth sound like you took good care.

Originally Posted by Tbone21

kraze i apoligize i misunderstood your post I thought you were saying your caiman was 5 years old and only 28 inches not 28 inches when you got your caiman and now almost 4 feet. again I apologize for that. As for my opinion on size versus age in my opinion its a little of both I mean you can have a reptile that is 6 years old but like your caimans previous owner treated her not in good condition and diet and even though it may reach age but not be able to breed or breeding can kill it due to not strong health but if cared for properly size and age would go closely hand and hand. Once again no expert but just opinions. and also good job turning the caiman around and getting the growth sound like you took good care.

lol no problem, thats why i made sure to clarify

And yes, she made a huge turn around in the last year especially. I built her a 5x5 enclosure with a 70 gallon pond and she was a little weirded out by that, coming from an all glass cage for 3 years of life. She now has outgrown that cage and in june will be getting a much bigger enclosure with 180 gallons of water as the plan in a 10x8 space. She also has much better heating and lighting than what she used to have, and gets a crazy variety of foods (not to mention almost all the left overs when the snakes/tegus/monitor/turtles dont eat a meal lol)