Licht-im-Terrarium: Literaturdatenbank
Licht-im-Terrarium: Literaturdatenbank |
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Liesegang, A., & Baumgartner, K. (2003). Metabolic bone disease in juvenlile morelet's crocodile (crocodylus moreletii) caused by nutritional deficiencies. In J. Nijboer (Ed.), Zoo Animal Nutrition II Fürth: Filander Verlag. Added by: Sarina (2010-09-16 14:12:06) Last edited by: Sarina (2014-05-21 14:42:22) |
| Resource type: Book Article BibTeX citation key: Liesegang2003a View all bibliographic details  |
Categories: Englisch = English Keywords: Echsen = Lizards, Reptilien = Reptiles, Vitamin D = Vitamin D Creators: Baumgartner, Liesegang, Nijboer Publisher: Filander Verlag (Fürth) Collection: Zoo Animal Nutrition II |
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Added by: Sarina Last edited by: Sarina |
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Morelet‘s crocodile is a relatively little known species from the Atlantic coast of Mexico and northern central America. It is a small species, rarely exceeding 3 m in length and has a broad snout. These animals live primarily in freshwater habitats, particularly marshes, swamps, ponds and lagoons, but in some areas this species can be found in brackish water areas. Calcium and phosphorus are very important minerals in reptile nutrition, but many diets are still not balanced. To achieve an optimal growth, including a healthy skele-ton, a well-balanced supply with these minerals and also vitamin D is the prerequisi-te. The present case report is intended to share our experiences. In Nürnberg Zoo, three Morelet‘s crocodiles hatched for the first time in a european zoo in December 1999. The animals had an average weight of 31.9 g and had access to UV light. The dietary management was very difficult, because no recommendations existed for these species. The diet constisted of crickets and once or twice a week of baby mice. No supplementation was given. Sometimes, but rather seldom, the ani-mals were given chicks and fresh meat strips. After 3 _ months with an average body weight of 125.8 g, the animals were X-rayed, because one had a broken leg. The X-ray revealed severe signs of rickets in all three animals. The animal with the fracture was treated with a T-buster-splint bandage. In addtion, the diet was enriched with a mineral-rich and vitamin-rich supplement. After a 1 _ month all the animals recovered and had a length of 528.3 mm and an average weight of 445.3 g. Previous studies described that Ca and P play an important role in the nutrition of reptiles (Allen, 1989; Allen et al., 1993). It is very important for growing animals to give them enough vitamin D and calcium with a Ca:P ratio of a least 1:1. From the literature it is known that crickets have a calcium content of 0.47 % and a Ca:P ratio of 0.49 (DENNERT, 1997). From recommendations for other reptiles, these contents are too low (DONOGHUE and LANGENBERG, 1994). But considering the origine of these species and the growth when the crocodiles hatched, crickets were the best alternative to give them. Also in the wild these animals usually eat insects, small fish and worms during growth. From this case report it can be concluded that after correction of the diet with a sup-plement rich in minerals and vitamins the animals recovered quickly. Feeding juvenile Morelet‘s crocodiles appears to be comparable to other reptiles looking at mineral supplementation. Therefore it has to be kept in mind that a supplementation is ne-cessary when the diet consists of crickets only or in combination with meat, because the Ca content and the Ca:P ratio are too low. Added by: Sarina Last edited by: Sarina |