2pacs winter home

nice gator. how big and old is he and what do you feed him?

in this pic he was 4, he is now 5. I have a pic of him posted under gatorncrocs...hes on a island. I feed him raw hamburger meat with crushed eggshells inside,crawfish,chicks,mice, rats,chicken wings,legs,turkey necks, pigs feet....when they get over 4 foot they need alot of calcium. he is pushing 6 feet now.

Thanks for your interest.

when he was around 2 years old. mine is almost 2 and is around 2 ft.

When he was 2 he ate alot of fish, and raw meats. But if i had it all to do over again I would gave him more whole prey items and better calcium like he gets now.
What size enclosure does yours have? and what type of lighting?

right now i just have him in a 75 gallon stock tank but within the next month or so i'm going to move him into a bigger tank. what size would you reccomend? and i have the 2 stock uv bulbs and a 100watt basking light. would you make any other suggestions for me? i sure could use them

Depending on what he is eating he will out grow the 75 gallon quick. Can he turn easily underwater? Space is the biggest thing. Land and water. I dont know how much space you can spare but the more the better. I would use a plastic pond and build a frame and walls around it. Several photos are on this site of what I mean. Bigtank and ghostface come to mind. In the summer if it is possible to get him outside for real sun exposure. This is the first year I got pac outside and he loves it. The only other advice I can give is just remember he will continue to grow and will always need more room. So when you spend x amount of dollars on a new enclosure, make sure you are not wasting money, give him the most space you can as soon as you can. Some people think that they can keep them smaller by not feeding enough or keeping in a small enclosure. This only stresses the gator out and will eventually cause serious issues. I have built and bought 6 different enclosures in 5-6 yrs. Alot of money gone. As far as diet i would suggest whole prey animals, mice rats chicks frogs, use calcium supplements on any raw meats. i stick egg shells in groundbeef. And you already have the uv lights that really is important for proper digesting.
I hope this helps.

yea right now i feed him mice and feeder fish. i will try the raw meets and egg shells at his next feeding. about how often did u feed your gator when he was the size of mine?

I fed him then the same as now..3 times a week. Do you feed him live or dead mice? I feed mine all dead animals, I dont want him to associate movement with killing, eating. When you use eggs during the week just save the shells in a bag, crush them up really good. take some raw ground beefand make patties smaller then your gators head...put a little bit of egg shell in the middle, then smush all together, reflatten add more shell, repeat this a couple of times. then make the patties into ovals(pack tight) but make sure they are small enough to go down in one gulp. or he will make a mess. sometimes i add beef heart, or chicken liver pieces inside also. remember in the wild they eat the entire animal...bones=calcium,organs=vitamins, and meat=protein, so they need these with every meal. If they eat to much of or only one of these items, it can cause serious problems. Ex. to much meat can cause gout, your gator will appear plump and fat and healthy but his liver is on over drive trying to digest and process only protein...look on the caresheets faqs features...it has alot of info

i have been feeding live, but will switch to dead soon. i'm going to try that idea tomorrow when i feed. what type of lighting do u have for your gator

I use full spectrum uv lights and heating lamps.

o ok... is there anything else that i should know, any other pointers?

the only thing we have not talked about is how often you handle him. I only handle mine to take him from one enclosure to the other.or when i take him to the vet. when he was smaller i handled him quite often, but unless you have the real time to handle him to "try and tame" dont handle. it only causes stress. for the first 3yrs I had mine he was handled daily for as many hrs as I could put in. now hes some what docile but far from tame. Is yours calm? how does he react when handled? or when you enter the room he is in?

mine is fair. he doesn't try to bite but when i pick him up he squirms and hisses for a little and then after about 1 minute he's ok

well thats good. have you tried feeding him the meat or dead prey yet? you should post some pics....

yes, as a matter of fact i did. i gave him a f/t mouse and he went after it like it was the allive prey. in a few days i'll try the meat patties. how do i do it again?

Very cool. Everyone mentions feeding frogs. Are toads safe to feed as well? I'm curious.