Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Anyone out there training their crocodiles to do the following. Respond to names
Desensitizing not to bite
Shifting into a area on command
jumping behaviors
running behaviors
retreating behaviors
holding for periods of 1 minute or more
coming when asked
using hand signals to communicate behavior
using colors or targets to communicate behavior
Using training to manage groups
Using training for introductions

Another question, Anyone witnessing any playing behavior or doing any type of enrichment besides live food items?

Flavio Morrissiey

We are working on training our dwarf caiman (0.2) to respond to a training whistle when it is feeding time. It has been succesful, however, it is hard to tell whether or not the animals know that when we are there it is time to feed or are responding to the whistle cause even when we dont blow the whistle and they see us in a certain spot they come over. There is a zoo in new york I think that has trained their cubans to come when called using spanish names.

Great Stuff. I am building a website right now on training. I have mostly trained crocs. There will be many video examples. Years back I wrote a paper on name recognition in Cuban Crocodiles at Gatorland. Many facilities are beginning to use these techniques. Once the sight is up I will post the findings and of crocodile training. Right now I am trying to gather information on what everyone has tried.

Flavio
Link

I do have a few things I have noticed one is I can call them and they will come. I started out feeding by calling "come on gators", "come on Niles" ect. and dropping the food on the ground. and they would come. Then one day I was working in front of the enclosure and the gators where on the other side on the pond. I looked up and my dog was into something so I said "come on" with no movement from me the gators jumped in the water and came across looking for food. After that I did several experiments to see what "key words" worked and it seams they really know the word "come on". I can be standing in front of any of my enclosures with crocs basking on the other side of the fence just hanging out and you can talk for a long time and they never move but if you use the word "come on" in a sentence they get up and come to the fence everytime.
I also notice with my niles that if you don't see them (like they are under water) I can stomp my foot on the ground and they will come up right in front of where you are standing. This makes me think they know where that vibration is coming from so is there a possibility that when they are in the wild they don't wait in 1 spot for prey to come to them maybe they sit underwater wait till they feel the vibration and go to where the prey is?
I feel they know colors to. One time I wore a pair of white shrimp boots in with the gators I made it about 10 feet in the enclosure when they all started coming towards me stairing at my feet. I went (well ran) out and changed to my brown boots went back in and they never lifted a finger. I think this is because I feed a lot of chicken and the colors are the same.
Birgit Plummal from Bush Gardens Tampa told me just the other day that they have trained sobik there 15'6" South African Nile to come and enter his transport box using a duck call. She said when he hears the call he gets up, comes over, walks in his box till his nose just touchs the front and sits down then they give him a treat for a job well done. I haven't seen this for myself but she said the next time they do a exam she was going to call me so I could see it. I would love to see that monster walk in a box on his own. It would make some great footage for your new website if your interested.
How is your work with the Cubans coming?

Great observations. The big nile at Busch is impressive and I have witnessed him shift. Disney also shifts their big niles. You training with the "come on" is great. I think that they can be taught to do some complex tasks. They remember very well. I will post video on the website to demonstrate some of the stuff that we have done with them. I am gathering more information on training. The Cuban Crocodiles are doing great and after training for 6 years now they are still in high performance. We have had safer experiences with them since the training and that goes with all species so far. We do not reward aggressive behavior. We do however reward similar aggressive behavior such as chasing, running, jumping and lunging in our direction. The crocodiles have to perform in a non threatening manner to be rewarded. I have seen them do some cool stuff.

I want to share this. I will keep updating and have something on the website by Friday.

Flavio

I can't wait to see some of the video. How do you let them know the behavior they are displaying is not correct? Have you tried any multiple tasks?

Yes, I have done some chained behaviors. I will post two videos to the following address so you can watch them. One is on a Salt Water Crocodile. lunge, holding, Here command, Bipedal stance and go away command.
The other is a Nile Crocodile taught to run. The cue is a foot stomp. To stop the crocodile from running the trainer has to stop.
http://orlandoreptileshow.com/reptiletraining

Flavio
Reptile Training

That link did not work. Try this one

Go to the page of Reptile Training and click on video clip. You will see the Salt Water video.

flavio
Reptile Training

Dear Flavio,

both one Dwarf croc and one Chinese alligator have been trained to come when showing a red bowl ( as a sign for food). Both animals are coming also when called by names.
Keep up your great work,hope meeting you again soon.

Ralf
Tomistoma Task Force