Kingsnake.com Adam Britton Crocodillians February 28, 2007 PHFaust: On behalf of Jeff Barringer and all of us at kingsnake.com, I'm very pleased to welcome Adam Britton to our Ninth Annual Chat Week. PHFaust: Adam Britton's long-standing interest and research on crocodilians has provided many adventures in the wilds of northern Australia, many of which feature in the numerous documentaries Adam has appeared in over the past decade. Adam now runs a consultancy business specialising on crocodilian research, conservation management and documentary filming. He is also co-authoring a book on crocodilian husbandry (with Chris Dieter). Adam will answer questions on any aspect of crocodilians, whether it's biology and behaviour, keeping crocs in captivity, or working in the field with crocs and film crews. You can visit Adam's website at crocodilian.com. PHFaust: Thank you so much for joining us, Adam, and welcome! Adam Britton: thanks for having me Adam Britton: greetings from warm and wet Australia Adam Britton: this is a croc chat yes, anything crocs, you name it, here I am :) JayP: Thanks for the site adam, I added it to my favorites, how big of an enclosure do you have for the salties and how much do you feed them? Adam Britton: for my salties the enclosure is 40 metres x 30 metres roughly, with a 60,000 litre pool, but the male is 14.5 feet (4.5 m) long so it needs to be large. JayP: Wow, I had a gator that I got for a friend, Ithink ppl dont realize what size of an enclosure they need. Adam Britton: Tor a hatchling the absolute bare minimum I suggest is 3 x body length plus sufficient water to swim, turn and submerge, but expect to have to upgrade that soon. ChiloGator: What's the difference in coloration in American alligators between the western compared to easterrn poulations? I think mine are western. ChiloGator: wonderfull site by the way love it. Adam Britton: I'm not aware of any location-specific colouration, although there are differences - some adults retain their juvenile colouration for longer. Colouration also is influenced by behaviour (stress / happiness) and environment (darker = more melanin production), so there's no black and white answer DemonFrog: ? ChiloGator: See, Iheard thers a slight coloration difference. Thanx. RiseAbove: Are you mad that the shark won on the Animal Face Off show from discovery? I think they rigged it for the shark, and I wanted the crocodile to win the whole time. Adam Britton: I've heard that too, but I've not seen anyone provide any real evidence outside of the factors I explained, but maybe there is some Adam Britton: Well to be honest, that's the one outcome I did agree with! In fact, I think the shark should have won within a few seconds, but they had to stretch it out to 60 seconds for TV entertainment purposes and it started to stretch credibility a bit (ok, a lot) 312Pythons: i want to get something small..dwarf caiman or something of that sort. I want to know what kind/size of enclosure do i need? Also are what are their temperments..and is it alot of work keeping/caring for them? Adam Britton: It was a "no fair" contest really - shark was much larger and heavier and far more manoeuvrable, plus it was in its element Adam Britton: 312, it's no light undertaking looking after any crocodilian, but certainly a dwarf caiman (Paleosuchus sp) is perhaps the best bet. 312Pythons: What size enclosure am I looking at to build ? Adam Britton: Don't expect any crocodilian to have a "nice" temperament - that's just the way they come. Personality does vary a lot, though, and you can also have a big influence with the way you "train" or "habituate" them. 312Pythons: Ok, thanks. Adam Britton: Bear in mind these guys live for at least 30 to 40 years too, so it's a major decision to make! Go to my manual at http://crocodilian.com/crocfaq for a lot more info than I can type out here. ;) Herpo: Hello, Adam. It has been a few years. Thanks again for the data and photos for the Aussie herp site. Which species of crocodilian holds the honor of largest, and how large was it? Adam Britton: Well Rom Whitaker is doing some research on this right now - I came back from Kakadu a few weeks ago with measurements of about 15 skulls, and there's a lot of variability. Adam Britton: In terms of actual croc, salties hold the record for largest because someone got a confirmed measurement of a 20.2 / 20.3 foot croc (bit of tail missing). Adam Britton: There are larger skulls around, but because there's so much variability they don't provide enough evidence themselves on the size of the croc. The biggest "probable" was a 23-24 foot saltie from Orissa in India, but there is a skull that's 5 cm longer in the Paris Museum. Adam Britton: That's not to say there aren't other monster crocs from other species, but ultimately you need evidence to make a decision on which is which. KLG: Adam - I) What is your favorite croc species (if you have a particular fave)? Can you share a bit about your experience with C. intermedius (they make me go all sorts of swoony!)? Adam Britton: Heh, well I have to say that salties are my favourite of course, but I have a serious respect for Cuban crocs (C. rhombifer). They are a glimpse back into croc evolution for me, being more terrestrial than most others. C. intermedius is also a fantastic croc; fairly poorly known in teh wild, but there's some good work going on there now. Adam Britton: I've never seen a wild C. intermedius though - it's one of those species that holds even more of a fascination because of that. Those jaws in particular tell an interesting story about their life history. Plus they look cool! KLG: Yeah they do! Thanks much! garf_nr: I was wondering how to get a croc. Do you need a license or something? Adam Britton: Usually you do, yes, but it depends where you live. Each state / country / country (delete as appropriate) has its own laws on keeping crocodilians, so you need to check first. Usually a permit is required, and often you have to satisfy an inspector that you know what you're doing, and that you've put a suitable enclosure together. Here in Darwin, I can keep a 14.5 foot saltie fairly easily, but Adam Britton: There's more info about this at http://crocodilian.com/crocfaq (although most of it is intended to put you off the idea, for obvious reasons) garf_nr: Where is Darwin? Adam Britton: Darwin is in northern Australia. PHFaust: I'm having a helluva time filtration. Is there a brand that holds up to the gators... I have one now around 15 inchs SVL and he keeps eating what I have. Adam Britton: Well I'm not familiar with US brands, to be honest - that's a disadvantage to being in Australia where we have to make our own filters (no, seriously). PHFaust: If I need to make that would work too... ;) Adam Britton: I do actually recommend building your own - a biofilter made from a suitable medium (eg straws, shade cloth, special biofilter medium etc) will take a lot of material out, plus a small sand filter is a good idea once the crocs get larger. PHFaust: Is there something I should look for? PHFaust: Is that on your site? Adam Britton: I'm pumping 400 lpm through a high capacity sand filter, but that's probably overkill for you! PHFaust: Yeah I'm allowed under a certain size with special permits for educational use. Adam Britton: I don't have it on my site, but it'll be in the book I'm writing. Really you can google some ideas, but ultimately it's just a filtration medium that you pump the water through - take the water out of the pool (usually by pump) and then use gravity to get it back in there, and pass it through your filters. PHFaust: I'll look into it Adam Britton: Gravity is your friend :) PHFaust: This little guy just likes to eat them. Adam Britton: You can also set up a surface skimmer that takes surface oils / detritus off - again, hard to explain here but easy to make. PHFaust: Ill bug you about it later then. :) Adam Britton: Oh, I see what you're saying. Well, in that case you need to protect it. A PVC tube large enough to accommodate it, with holes drilled into it, is one solution. DemonFrog: What do you feed your critters? I can imagine it is hard to find that much food. Adam Britton: Well, the big crocs get a combination of chickens and roadkill. The roadkill is plentiful around here, plus it provides a good dietary variety from fatty chickens. DemonFrog: Thank you. Adam Britton: The small crocs I feed a variety of things - mince with supplements (or whole minced animals including guts), various live freshwater fish species, and a variety of bugs. I have a light that switches on at night for 30 mins, which provides plenty of bugs that fall into the water for them to snaffle up. Occasionally I find freshwater shrimps in the local creek too. It's variety that's important KLG: Adam...obviously crocs are your specialty...are there any other herps you're into/keep just for fun? Adam Britton: Just an addition - baby mice / rats are great for smaller crocs. DemonFrog: Smart with the light Adam Britton: I used to keep green iguanas (did a lot of work on them in the UK) and they have a special fuzzy place for me still, but also I kept a variety of rat snakes, tegus, various frogs and small lizards. These days I tend to let the wildlife come to me - we have thousands of geckos in the house, plus lots of skinks and dragons in the garden. We have a resident frilly too - he's very cool. Adam Britton: We tend to go away a lot, so we need low-maintenance pets. KLG: I hear that! Thanks! :D Paul Bodnar: Adam, there is an exhibit at the miami sea aquaruim which houses nurse sharks and nile crocs in the same cage Adam Britton: OK Paul Bodnar: the sharks are in salt water around the rim, then an island then a freshwater pond inside the island. Adam Britton: That's a neat idea Paul Bodnar: so far a very successful design, sort of a peaceful "animal face off" davidtobler_nr: What species of crocodilian proves to be most troublesome when acclimating to captivity? Adam Britton: I'll have to check it out next time I'm there - I really like these inventive enclosures. Adam Britton: Acclimating? What, you mean from the wild? davidtobler_nr: yes turthugger_nr: Have you ever had the opportunity to work with David Attenborough? Adam Britton: Well they all have a certain period of acclimitisation - the main offenders are the larger adults because they usually take much longer to adapt. Some will simply never eat due to stress, often the more dominant ones in the wild. Adam Britton: I've seen big 14' adults go for 18 months starvation before eating (and some never eat and die), whereas juveniles adapt within a few weeks usually. davidtobler_nr: Sounds like most herps. Any species in particular that stands out as the worst captive? Adam Britton: I haven't seen any particular species which is more or less likely to do this, to be honest. It's an individual thing, and it depends on the stresses involved and what they've come from, and what you're putting them in. Lots of shelter is far better for acclimitisation than a completely open pool for example. Adam Britton: Cubans are pretty difficult to adapt, but that's more because they're so aggressive and harder to work with really. It varies. jeffb: what filming are you working on next? Adam Britton: We have National Geographic coming soon for a show called "Maximum Crocodile". It's not just salties, but they'll form the largest component of the show. We're doing some daring things, so it'll be interesting! Adam Britton: We just finished working with David Attenborough for Life in Cold Blood - really looking forward to seeing how that comes out. Adam Britton: Also hoping to do a show on Nile crocs fairly soon, if the planets all align. ChiloGator: I've seen some baby american alligators that sway back and forth when scared is this away to avoid predetors? "writing this with my hatchling in the sweatshirt pocket lol" ChiloGator: also I just want to say I love Your captive care info on the site. Adam Britton: That's an interesting observation - I've seen a few species do that. Sometimes they seem to have gotten themselves into a precariously balanced position with their jaws open and leaning to try and bite, so it looks like they're just wobbling, but at other times I wonder if it's deliberate. Some lizards will wobble to help fix their gaze on prey or predators, some do it for defence. Adam Britton: I can't see why a gaping gator would wobble for defence, though - there's no advantage to it that I can think of. Chalk it down to Croc Mystery #1934. ChiloGator: Ah I've noticed it as a delibrate thing sorta Rouen: Do you worry about parasites when feeding roadkill? And have you ever worked with Brady Barr? Adam Britton: I don't worry about parasites, no, because wild crocs deal with them pretty effectively, and as long as our captives are free of stress there's no reason to think that parasites would be a problem. It's extremely rare, and usually a management related issue. Adam Britton: So yes, it could be an issue, but then I'd be looking at your management and asking why the crocs are susceptible. Adam Britton: As for Brady, yes I've worked with him before - we talk regularly about his crazy exploits! Might do something with him later this year, maybe. Rouen: Thanks Adam Adam Britton: With crocs, stress is such a contributing factor to their overall health. People think I harp on about it, but I don't mind! RiseAbove: Whats the largest crocodilian you've ever worked with, like weight and length? And did you ever do work with Steve? Adam Britton: The largest croc I worked with (briefly) was Gomek at St Augustine Alligator Farm - he was 17.9 feet long. Alas, the work was doing a necropsy the day after he died! :( Fascinating, but he was better alive than dead. I've worked with a few 15'2 - 15'5 foot crocs in captivity, and the largest croc I've caught in the wild (with a harpoon) was around 14.5 foot. That took a long, long time. Adam Britton: Gomek weighed around 2000 lbs I'd guess, but I don't think they ever measured him. He was a big boy! RiseAbove: indeed Adam Britton: I never worked with Steve, but I had a long chat in person with him once. He was an interesting guy, and more open than people think. Herpo: 2 part: How is the sense of smell with crocodilians, and do you feed whole animals (e.g. roadkill roo) or do you cut into edible chunks? Adam Britton: Sense of smell is excellent. They will follow scent trails on the ground, and they can smell dead things from several kilometers away (though that's not been measured). You can also present them with hidden food and they'll find it pretty quickly. Adam Britton: We tend to cut roadkill up, mainly because if we don't the croc smashes it up himself and - as you can imagine - the resulting mess the next morning is not entirely pleasant. Plus the filter has a harder time dealing with stomach contents! PHFaust: On behalf of Kingsnake.com, Jeff B, and myself, I want to take a moment to thank Adam Britton for being part of our chat week. Adam, thanks for taking the time out to chat with us on crododilians. PHFaust: Thank you so much adam. Yours was the first website I ever visited and now it is a regular visit for me. Adam Britton: Again, thanks for inviting me - it's always a lot of fun, and I hope everyone got something out of it. DemonFrog: thank you adam PHFaust: I did, and Ill bother you soon about building a filter... :) Adam Britton: Remember, you can always visit crocodilian.com and send me an email - I might be in Australia, but I'm still available. Rouen: Thanks for coming again adam! |
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