HARTLAND - After two years in a pet shop and two more in a basement, Vector the alligator is on his way to sunny Florida.
Laura and John Paner stopped by Wesley Salen's Robson Road home Friday to collect the 5-year-old, 5-foot-long American alligator and drive him - or her, it's too soon to tell - to their reptile sanctuary outside Tampa.
Salen, a former pet shop owner, contacted Croc Encounters, the Paners' not-for-profit operation, when keeping Vector became too much for him.
The Paners, Buffalo natives, were happy to drive from Florida to collect the alligator. They plan to stop in Maryland to pick up another alligator on their way home.
They praised Salen, who holds a state game license allowing him to own an alligator, for giving Vector excellent care.
"He is definitely in really good health," John Paner said when Salen carried the alligator, wrapped in a green blanket, outside. "Obviously you're doing something right if this is the size of the animal after five years."
Alligators grow about a foot a year.
Four years ago, Vector, then about a year old, was dropped off at the former Blue Lagoon pet shop in Buffalo, where Salen worked. Selling alligator hatchlings is illegal in New York, but neighboring states have no such restrictions.
Salen took the alligator with him when he opened his own pet shop, Mystical Waters, in Medina the following year.
There, Vector remained on display for two years. But when the business closed, Vector was still there - so Salen took it home and gave it the run of the basement.
The animal often was kept in a 150-gallon large plastic tub, much like one he will ride in for the drive south. He also had a cinder block pen with heat lamps.
"I just recently got an apartment, and I just can't care for him anymore," Salen said. "The key for me was getting it a good home, and I did research all over."
Laura Paner said Croc Encounters has nearly 30 alligators on its 22-acre spread near the Busch Gardens amusement park. "He'll have plenty of room to move around," she said.
Young alligators don't eat all that much, Salen said. "You can feed them live [animals], but I've never really been into that, so I always fed him chicken legs, beef hearts, things like that."
"We feed them two or three times a week," John Paner said.
"It depends on the temperature. Below 75 degrees, they're not going to eat very readily," Laura Paner added.
That didn't seem to harm Vector's development. "He's heavier than I was expecting," John Paner said as he held the animal for a photo session in the driveway.
Although Vector had a fairly good temperament, the relationship had its rough spots.
"Last year he grabbed me good in the arm, but he didn't do much damage. It's like a paddle with little teeth," Salen said. "They're pretty good. When they bite you, they let go."
http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20051224/1013282.asp
http://www.crocencounters.org
