Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,
I was talking with my dad today about an atricle I read about Arthur Jones specifically about his crocs. Does anyone know what happened to all of them? I seems to me that he had a large collection of them. He mentioned that Tom Crutchfield went down and got him but he wasn't sure.
Drew

The facts are yes, A. jones was a good friend if mine. I did buy some crocs and lots of other herps from him as well. St. Augustine Alligator Farm bought the bulk of the collection and leased the facilities to keep them at Jones. After about a year St. Augustine decided it was too costly to maitain and I bought the rest from them. At one point I had 19 species of crocs on my Farm. I sucessfully bred 11 species of crocodilians. That is possibly a record for a public or private facility here in the U.S. My biggest success was with Cuban Crocodiles. Over an 8 year period I produced MORE C. rhombifer than all Zoos and other facilities had all added together since they began keeping records. I hatched 100dreds and 100dreds. My biggest failure was never successfully breeding False Gavials[Tomistoma schleggeli]. After over 20 years I only produced 2 clutchs but no fertile eggs. It was however a lot of fun and I pioneered a lot of croc stuff in general. I didn't make a lot of money on it but I really enjoyed it and learned a lot. I'm ging to miss Arthur. He unlike most people was the "real deal". R.I.P. A. Jones.......TC

My croc collection went to Gatorland here in Fl and Alligator Adventure in S. Carolina. A select few went to personal friends.......TC

Tom,
Thanks for the replies. Arthur Jones is the real deal but then again so are you my friend. By the way, this is Paul Edward's son Drew. We met at the Daytona Expo last year.
Thanks,
Drew

Tom,
My dad wants to know if you remember the time when you guys were in the Cuban croc pens and you jabbed him in the ass with your long pole and said "watch it" at the same time. LOL
P.S. Best of luck with the albino iguana project.
Sincerely,
Drew

Lets not forget many of those Crocs were orinally owned by the California Alligator Farm. We now own the original Female Cuban that Ken Earnest bred. The male died a couple of years ago now.

We would love to know what eventually happened to the two big East African Niles that came from the alligator farm? Tom, do you recall where they ended up?
Terry
-----
It's what you learn AFTER you know it all that counts!

Terry Phillip
Curator of Reptiles
Black Hills Reptile Gardens
Rapid City, SD.

www.reptilegardens.com

Actually I believe most of Arthurs crocs came from the California Alligator Farm. I believe when Kenny's lease was up Arthur moved everything including K. Earnest to Fl. Until then Arthur had only a few crocs he got from me, Thailand, and some C. acutus that I'm not sure where they came from. At the time of the move I purchased most of the snakes ect. Arthur didn't want. It was much later that I got the crocs. The big Nile Kenny called Mcculu[Zulu for big] went to Busch Gardens and died there of a tooth infection months later. As for the large toothless male I never had it and have no idea where it went or what happened to it. Many decades ago I sold Black Hills a large pair of C. acutus[before A. Jones purchase] that I had gotten from E. Frolich, probably Fl. first alligator farmer, and have wondered what happened to them. Most of the C. rhombifer that I produced were from some of the babies produced by Kenny many years before. I also had bloodlines from the National Zoo and one other bloodline I can't remember the origin of. If Kenny is still at Black Hills give him my very best. He always was a great croc man. The real key to croc production boils down primarily to 3 things, diet, diet, and diet. Different species require different foods I discovered. For instance if you feed Cubans whole mammals you will get LOTS of fertile eggs[I don't mean nutria carcasses]. If you don't you won't. I miss crocs and am considering breeding a few species again.....TC

Crocodile's are definitely for the fun and enjoyment of the keeper, not the money thats for sure!

Terry, You should breed your Osteo's!

Tom, if you still had the croc collection we all know you would be neck and neck with Uthen with regards to breeding the Tomistoma's! ..... ill call you soon to talk croc's and try and figure a date to come down and visit.

Donny

Well since the most Tomistoma I've ever had at one time was 9 I doubt I'd ever catch up to Uthen but thanks for the kind words. You know your always welcome to come down Donny. We'll take field trips and have fun.....TC

I was thinking you had 13 or 14 Tomistoma in your group, regardless 9 Tomistoma is the USA is a huge group! Maybe you wouldnt have caught up to Uthen but id bet today there would be a LOT more than 25-35 Tomistoma in the USA.

Ok now im sure you have told me this before probably a few times but .... you had 19 total species and produced 11 species, which species? Let me see if I can figure this out.

Species held
1. American Alligator
2. Common Caiman (Spec and Brown)
3. Yacare Caiman
4. Broad Snounted Caiman
5. Dwarf Caiman
6. Smooth front Caiman
7. American Crocodile
8. Slender Snout Crocodile
9. Ausi Freshwater Crocodile
10. Morelet Crocodile
11. Nile Crocodile
12. Mugger Crocodile
13. Saltwater Crocodile
14. Cuban Crocodile
15. Siamese Crocodile
16. New Guinea Crocodile
17. Dwarf Crocodile
18. Tomistoma
19. ?? Black Caiman or Philippine Crocodile ??

Species Produced
1. American Alligator
2. Common Caiman
3. Yacare Caiman
4. American Crocodile
5. Slender Snout Crocodile
6. Morelet Crocodile
7. Nile Crocodile
8. Siamese Crocodile
9. Saltwater Crocodile
10. Cuban Crocodile
11. Dwarf Crocodile

Let me know if I was close.

Well Donnie, you were very close. I had a Black Caiman and bred a Dwarf caiman rather than Slendersnout Crocs. Yesterday I took a field trip down close to Turkey Point and managed to see 2 subadult American Crocs. It was good fun....TC

Yes I was pretty close! Jose Nova in Miami has a couple adult female cataphractus, we were under the impression that those were produced by you (guess not).

Just thinking about your old croc collection and the species you produced makes me wish let me tell ya! And lets not forget some of the rarer stuff: albino caiman, albino gators, Tai Siamese, white porosus, etc.. Or some of the hybrids produced ...... If I only had some million's to invest in croc's and property!!

Turnkey, I have never been there, it does sound like fun! Did you go with Joe W? The last time I was in Florida Uthen, Paul B and myself passed up on Turnkey , we went canoeing in Flamingo bay instead.

DT

Actually I never bred Albino Caiman or Albino Alligators. It is true I had them but I didn't breed them. The only hybrid I produced was NilexCuban and that was not on purpose. I had a lg. female Cuban on loan from Gladys-Porter Zoo who didn't get along. I put her in with a lg. Nile I figured she couldn't kill and she produced 32 eggs and 32 babies. I did however breed consistantly White C. porosus. The female, "Whitey" was on loan from Gladys-Porter Zoo as well. She was a great producer. I've heard other folks have had and tried to breed her with no sucess. Do you know if thats true or not?.....TC

Those nile x cubans are still sought after even if they were accidental.

I knew you had the white porosus but I didnt know it was on loan from Gladys, I have heard nothing about this animal since you had it. You should check into it or I could ask Colette about it.

Here is a pic of one I thought about trying to import a few years back.