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WLTV (Jacksonville, Florida) 21 July 06 Big Croc Is "Eating Like Mad" (Jessica Clark)
St. Augustine, Fl: The name says it all.
Maximo.
You know this crocodile has to be big before you even see him.
Now the largest living crocodile at St. Augustine’s Alligator Farm and Zoological Park is conducting behavior that may just make him even bigger.
“He’s eating like crazy,” John Brueggen said. Brueggen is the Director of the Alligator Farm on Anastasia Island.
Brueggen said the 15 foot 3 inch saltwater crocodile is “eating like mad.”
Staff feed the crocodiles once a week. Recently they’ve learned they have to feed Maximo more. He now is fed chickens and quail three times a week.
And he looks like he wants to expand his diet.
“The scary thing is he seems to be looking past the chicken and over at the people feeding him,” Brueggen says with a hearty laugh. “He’s really in the mood to eat anything in sight.”
The staff has even removed the female croc that shared Maximo’s space. He was eating his food and hers.
Brueggen said Maximo has become bolder and even dangerous when staff is working in the crocodile’s area. Brueggen told the story about one of the reptile keepers, Jim Darlington.
Darlington was working on some of the sand, near Maximo’s water pond, when “Maximo came flying out of the water. So Jim had his shovel, he put the shovel there, and Maximo took the shovel away and kept coming! So Jim had to run out of the exhibit. That’s something we’re not used to because all of our animals here are trained or are small enough that we know we can hold something, like a shovel, to protect ourselves.”
Brueggen reassuringly said Maximo is displaying typical saltwater crocodile behavior. Brueggen also believes Maximo “has every bit of potential to get as big as Gomek.”
Gomek, God rest his toothy grin, set the world’s record for the biggest crocodile. From tail to snout, he measured 17 feet 9.5 inches. He lived at the Alligator Farm for years until he passed away in the late 1990’s. Gomek has since been stuffed and is on display in a room of his own at the Alligator Farm.
Brueggen believes if Maximo continues to chow down, he could very well chomp into Gomek’s record and set a new one for world’s biggest crocodile.
As for his staff, Brueggen feels confident they will be able to control or work around Maximo’s gutsy new attitude.
“It’s not going to be a Jurassic Park scenario,” Brueggen said with a laugh. “It’s not like we’ve created the T-Rex that we can’t control. He’s clearly confined. It’s just we have to pay more attention to him than we do to the 12 foot alligators we’re used to dealing with.”
Big Croc Is "Eating Like Mad"

FYI-
Maximo was measured at 15'3" when he arrived at the Alligator Farm over 2 years ago. The opportunity has not arisen to measure him since, but we know that he has definitely grown and wants to grow more!