Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello again everyone,

Considering the many individuals that frequent this forum, that their work evolves crocodilians, I am hoping to achieve the same.
To those who base their career in working with crocodilians, if you dont mind me asking, how did you achieve this? What steps did you take, in order to get to where you are? The study of crocodilians, is rather obvious of course. But are there any other courses of study in which you have taken? Is a degree even necessary, to be considered a professional in this field?

As I consider my increasing hopes of being able to work with these awesome animals in a professional and educational atmosphere, I ponder, in what ways can I achieve my future goals. My degree currently is in IT, which will have very little to NO benefit, for my future hopes, lol. I am pretty much just weighing my options to determine whether or not I even have a chance and whether it's feasible. Being in Ohio, crocodilian management, really isn't an issue. I would love to be able to work with different species of crocodilians, without having to necessarily own them. I really enjoy my alligator, but I realize that housing him as an adult is going to be a challenge within itself, muchless being able to house more, excluding smaller species.

If anyone has any advice, or just being able to give me a few pointers, to help me achieve my future goals, I would really appreciate it. For those of you, who continuously respond to my questions and provide advice, and help, I owe a special thank you to you guys anyhow.

Best wishes to all!!

I'll try and answer your questions for you with the disclaimer that there are many ways to accomplish your goal. It is possible to make a significant income either as a supplement or primary source from animals. Particuarly animals that few are willing to keep due to danger,etc BUT that the public finds interesting.

>>To those who base their career in working with crocodilians, if you dont mind me asking, how did you achieve this?

My career isn't working directly with crocodilians full-time, but I make a significant income and in truth the line is pretty blurry at times between my day job and my crocodilian activities. My degree is in Biology and secondary education. I primarily work on the educational side of things.

>>>>What steps did you take, in order to get to where you are?

The degrees mentioned above, I also wrote a column for R&A hobbyist some years ago. I had worked and bred large reptiles for years so the move into crocodilians was a next step. Now I have so much invested in the activity it would be hard reverse course without a major life change.

>>> But are there any other courses of study in which you have taken? Is a degree even necessary, to be considered a professional in this field?

To be a professional? It depends on what you mean by that...a pet store owner, animal handler, exhibitor, nuisance animal removal? To do what I do a degree is most beneficial it opens doors that would be difficult to unlock otherwise BUT you can work with crocodilians in many ways sans a degree.

>>>Being in Ohio, crocodilian management, really isn't an issue. I would love to be able to work with different species of crocodilians, without having to necessarily own them. I really enjoy my alligator, but I realize that housing him as an adult is going to be a challenge within itself, muchless being able to house more, excluding smaller species.

You may want to work as a docent at a zoo to get yourself introduced and involved. You will also find out what the requirements are for dealing with crocodilians on a larger scale and meet lots of folks along the way.

I hope this was somewhat helpful.
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CDieter
'Reason, observation, and experience; the holy trinity of science.'

Thanks for the reply. I went to our Columbus Zoo yesterday, and was highly disappointed in the crocodilians display. 1 Alligator @ about 5-6 feet tops. Unfortunately, I dont think they need many people to maintain that one individual alligator. So now I am exploring more options. I would like to possibly open a Reptile Zoo here in Ohio some years down the road.

Most likely, with my luck it wont happen. But that doesn't 'mean I am not gonna try my da**dest!! Before-hand I would like to have an opportunity with working with them on other levels and of course LEARN MORE AND MORE ABOUT THEM!!! I will keep a lookout for other opportunities. I dont wish to necessarily aim for the petstore line, because in Ohio, that is the majority of the problem. I thank you alot for taking your time to answer my questions. Hopefully I will find that one thing that will give me my chance.

Gioni,

I used to live in Columbus. When I did I would go see the alligators every week. They typically fed them on saturdays. The keeper would take questions and I tried to come up with some every week.

They used to have 4 alligators around that size. I wonder what happened to the other 3? I haven't been back to columbus since 2001.

Good luck with your goal!

Matt

Spotismygator,

yeah, I was a little disappointed, but maybe that had the rest in the back and just didn't put them on display. That's always possible.

Thank you for the good wishes, I will need all the luck, knowledge and crocs I can get!!

The potential for you in a career working with crocodilians is virtually limitless...

I've so many ideas to offer,that I'll just send you a personal email when I have a few moments to tap on the keyboard many many times.
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Israel Dupont
Winter Haven, FL