Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Has anyone heard of these being calm and easily handable? I'm interested in a two foot animal that is supposed to be very calm and docile and I thought it would be good for educational shows (I'd tape the mouth). However I'm wondering if it might get aggressive as it gets larger. I'd only be interested in a animal that I could continue to easily pick up out of the enclosure and then tape its mouth shut without fuss and undo worry of getting my hands bit off. I had a 4 foot nile that was totally nasty and not at all usable in such a fashion. Any thoughts if it's worth pursuing the animal for educational shows?
Thanks for any input.

Jesus its a croc not a dog it will get bad but bad is good its a croc.
-----
http://www.simply-sober.com/him.html

http://simply-sober.com/blog1/

There's no breed that or cross that will be calm. The best you'll get is a possibility of being tolerant to handling. I believe the american alligator is your best bet, but it is still no guarantee. It can be just as nasty as your nile was, and no matter how "calm" or tolerant it is, you'll always have to be extremely careful when handling it (ALWAYS worrying about getting your fingers snapped off). You never know when it will have a bad day...

Mr. F

Educational shows?...how long are you planning on doing shows with a croc that's going to reach big proportions? If your shows are more cathedral-like where you are presenting in the croc's environment that's one thing but if you are traveling with a croc to use for demonstrations, I think you'll have quite a challenge - but hey, if that's what you want to do and you are willing to invest the time, go for it (my gut feeling is that it wouldn't work the way you envision). As an aside, I'm not a big fan of taping croc's mouths shut - as a curator of a well known herp facility that performs to thousands of people annually, we feel it sends the wrong message so when we use various crocs, they do not have their mouths taped shut. But, that's just our philosophy.

>>Has anyone heard of these being calm and easily handable? I'm interested in a two foot animal that is supposed to be very calm and docile and I thought it would be good for educational shows (I'd tape the mouth). However I'm wondering if it might get aggressive as it gets larger. I'd only be interested in a animal that I could continue to easily pick up out of the enclosure and then tape its mouth shut without fuss and undo worry of getting my hands bit off. I had a 4 foot nile that was totally nasty and not at all usable in such a fashion. Any thoughts if it's worth pursuing the animal for educational shows?
>>Thanks for any input.
-----
Rob Carmichael, Curator
The Wildlife Discovery Center at Elawa Farm
Lake Forest, IL

Hi Rob,

I replied to this post but apparently it was as a new post so it's up top.

CD
-----
CDieter
'Reason, observation, and experience; the holy trinity of science.'

This hybrid will be mean,and not good for shows.I have several crocodilians and the dwarf caiman or dwarf croc are far better for shows.Niles are okay if they are small.Also just to let you know if the animal is aquired out of state you have to have federal permits.Even if it is a hybrid. The U.S. fish&wildlife consider the animal to be an appendix I animal due to morelets side of the croc.Good luck with the animal.

Sincerly Mike Talka

Mike, could you share a little bit about your location and your dwarf croc. Seems like there's very few in the states, and even less info on them.

I live in Texas.My dwarf croc is about 16 years old and about 5' long,and she is a female.I have some smaller males that I ahve reared up from hatchlings.There are many states that have them its just that people dont share info on them.These crocodiles are a very diffrent breed of crocodile compared to the other larger ones in my opinion.They are small but can be challenge.