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I was wondering because everyone that has monitors are advised against having ponds for their varanids because of the defication issue. I would think that larger crocodilians would have just as bad stools as the larger monitors...am I wrong??
If I am right in thinking so, then what kinds of filteration systems are most popular in the crocodilian community?

Best regards,
Michelle
p.s. could I see some recent enclosure pics??? please

Usually, yes, they (crocodilians) will defecate and urinate in the water. There are exceptions, though. If their water becomes too dirty they instinctually will intentionally defecate away from their pond. I learned this when a particular filtration system failed to trap bacteria. It caught all solid waste, but unseen bacteria was in the water. I was baffled when the gators in this pond would walk several feet away from the pond, raise high and defecate, and then return to the water. They did this every day and for many days or weeks I was baffled by this behavior. At first I thought it was some form of territory marking that I was unfamiliar with. But that explanation didn't seem to make any sense. So I remained baffled for a while. But one day I was up close on the pond edge and I saw thousands of tiny microbes or protozoa in the water (some kind of microscopic bacteria). It didn't click at first what this meant, but I took that filter off, changed the water, bleached out the pond and put on a better filter with finer stages. It was when the behavior of defecating away from the water came to an abrupt stop that it hit me like a ton of bricks what had been happening. Even though the water was clear and appeared clean, the gators knew it was infected with bacteria and were doing their instinctual part to keep their "water hole" from becomming even more poluted with bacteria. (my theory, anyway). As it turns out, eventually even that filter was not enough. Most of the water filters that are available are designed to deal with small amounts of fish waste. Even the larger sized pet fish have relatively small stools in comparison with a young, growing alligator. So these filters may work for a short while, but are eventually never enough for a growing gator. What is best is if you have a pond that is of a size where you can change and replace the water every day or two. Like 50 to 100 gallons or so. Otherwise you will have to fork out some serious dough for a really large and complex filter and even then they are just not enough in the long run.

>>I was wondering because everyone that has monitors are advised against having ponds for their varanids because of the defication issue. I would think that larger crocodilians would have just as bad stools as the larger monitors...am I wrong??
>>If I am right in thinking so, then what kinds of filteration systems are most popular in the crocodilian community?
>>
>>Best regards,
>>Michelle
>>p.s. could I see some recent enclosure pics??? please
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True power is to be found in one's sheer will and personal determination to achieve one's goals at ANY cost and at ANY sacrifice.

Well depending on the size of the pond there are veried options. Some work better then others but they all need attention to keep clean. For really large ponds (10,000 to 20,000 gallons) I've used DE filters and pool pumps within in line prefilters. Currently I'm working on building my own filter system for a 75 gal pond. Its similar to a wet/dry trickle filter. This filter will have mechanical and biological filtration. After it is built I will run testing on the water over a 2 week period to verify Ph, Ammonia, Chlorine, nitrates, viral, bacteria content. Still building so no photos yet but watch the forum. I will post pics when finished. Hope this helps. Jason