Animal Diaries Archive

A Day In The Life Of A Croc Keeper

4 February 2005

The day for our Croc Team starts early for one member with a 6:00am start to check all of the crocs and ponds. For the rest of the team it's even earlier at this time of year; a 5:00am start at our local surf spot (not quite work but early all the same). After completing two solid hours of surfing, it's off to work to do the morning jobs - brushing and scooping the ponds, raking the environmental park, testing the water quality and vacuuming the Crocoseum.

12:00pm in the Crocoseum is our first croc show for the day. One of seven different crocs (one for each day of the week) is brought into the main arena so as we can show people just how crocs operate. Every demo is very different because every croc has its own unique personality and the clear water allows us to explain how they hunt and how easy it is to avoid these magnificent predators. When the demo is over it's off to mow the croc park, home to our wild caught Saltwater Crocs. At 1.30pm we hold our next demo in the dirty water of the Environmental Park. This conveys to our guest how, even the largest saltwater crocs are truly the masters of camouflage, giving them first hand the chance to see how crocs often attack their prey from deep, dark, dirty water. There is nothing quite like it!!

At 2:00pm its time for a quick bite to eat (for us that is) and then off to mingle with one of the more laid back crocodilians of the world during American Alligator photo's. From here it is all down hill with the final afternoon feed outs, the odd wildlife rescue thrown in and of course the afternoon checks to ensure all is well before going home. All in all, a very busy, exciting day to say the least!