Kingsnake.com
Peter Brazaitis
Lifetime of Herptology
March 1, 2007
PHFaust: On behalf of Jeff Barringer and all of us at kingsnake.com,
I'm very pleased to welcome Peter Brazaitis to our Ninth Annual Chat
Week.
PHFaust: Author of the book, You Belong in a Zoo!: Tales from
a Lifetime Spent with Cobras, Crocs, and Other Extraordinary Creatures,
Peter Brazaitis was Superintendent of Reptiles at the Bronx Zoo until
1988 and then Curator of Animals at the Central Park Zoo until 1997.
Although now retired, he continues to work as a forensic consultant
in Herpetology and has an appointment as a Curatorial Affiliate, Dept.
of Vertebrate Zoology, Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History in New
Haven, CT. Tonight he will talk of his time at the New York zoos, working
in the field, and his work as a forensic consultant.
PHFaust: Thank you so much for joining us, Peter, and welcome!
croc1: Hi.
Herphaven1: Okay Mr.Brazaitis I am a big fan of your work. What
would you say your biggest achievement in herpetoculture has been?
croc1: Getting through 43 years with all of my fingers.
Herphaven1: haha
Herphaven1: What would you say your favorite herp is?
croc1: Breeding 6 species of crocodilians from a time when we
did not even know males from fems.
croc1: Crocdilians are my favorite but there have been a lot
of individual characters
Herphaven1: Thank you Mr.Brazaitis. I appreciate your time
geofri: Peter, I couldn't think of any good questions for you
tonight, but I just wanted to say, I read your book about the bronx
zoo, and loved it, I was wondering, do you know if there are there still
loose tokay geckos thriving in the zoo?
croc1: Probably in the RH - one lived behind the wall clock
and would call at closing time.
PHFaust: For those who have not yet read the book, I strongly
suggest getting it. You can find it in the ks.com bookstore
Odatriad: Peter, do you see the path that you were fortunate
to have taken- starting out at the bottom rung and working your way
up the rankings within the zoo system is possible nowadays (in credible
zoological institutions) for those without a college education within
the life sciences? With the competitiveness within the field nowadays,
I'd think that promotions would be given to those qualified. I am referring
to credible zoological institutions, and not your mom and pops or roadside
attractions.
croc1: It's not easy - yes you can get into a keepers job without
a degree but you compete with people who do have some college and sometimes
a degree. The competetion is fierce.
Odatriad: I ask because I am sure there are many teenagers in
here who would like to pursue a career in the zoo field, but haven't
a clue of where they can go with it.
croc1: There are lots of job types in a zoo but I guess we are
talking about keeper positions. A keeper can be a keeper all of their
career. With education and experience they can go up the laddr to the
curatorial ranks - but those positions are few and far between.
roxydementia: Thanks for chatting with us! what is more important,
education or time spent with the animals? What kind of education would
you reccomend? I want to work with zoo animals, esp. herps and felines,
I am already a vet tech w/ 10 years of herps in my home and some herp
shop tme. Whats the next best step? Private practice is driving me nuts!
lol
croc1: Both - at the BZ the job required 2 years of college
or 2 years of animal experience in a working environment -
roxydementia: so im overqualified ;)
roxydementia: jk
croc1: However - we would get 50 applicants that had some experience
and a lot of education and visa versa - we usually went for a person
who had some college and a good working and more than just passing ineterest
in herps.
TexasReptiles: Peter, along with the late John Behler, but especially
you and your wife, all of you have contributed so much to crocodilian
biology, and I have learned so much from all of you guys over the years,
and i just wanted to thank you. Randal Berry (Little Rock Zoo)
croc1: Very nice to hear - thanks!
DemonFrog: Not to seem rude, just ignorant...what does a forensic
consultant in herpetology do?
croc1: My special interest is species identification. When the
ESA and CITES came into being I was the guy the feds and state used
to ID endangered species on manufactured products etc.
croc1: Forensic is the application of any science to a legal
issue.
DemonFrog: oh, ok
DemonFrog: I guess i was thinking too much like CSI. Thank you.
PHFaust: Things like gator skin wallets... where the stuff came
from correct?
croc1: Well not all that different - I use DNA technology, as
well as morphological characteristics. Sometimes I look at dead stuff
and sometimes I get to look at live herps.
croc1: Ok - i was lucky - I started at the BZ as a keeper in
1954.
PHFaust: Ok my turn.... In the book, you shared many tales of
escapes, near misses both at the zoos and in the field. What is the
single most amusing memory to this day makes you giggle
croc1: I guess three days of looking for a king cobra in the
dark and basement of the RH - still dream about it.
PHFaust: OH that was a wonderful story!
croc1: Old Fidel the Cuban croc was always trying to eat someone.
PHLdyPayne: In your book, you told the story of thefts from
the bronx zoo.... The retic I believe was returned... Out of curiousity
did the retic have the "normal" Temperment?
croc1: Giggle? I once found a guy in the basement with his pants
open - I grabbed him and chewed him out only to find that a chipmunk
had run up his leg!
PHFaust: OH Lord!
croc1: Actually it was an African rock and the boy returned
it because it chased him around the house and ate all the rats he bought.
PHLdyPayne: Did you ever hear from the kid over the years?
croc1: There were 2 boys and the zoo gave them both jobs at
the childrens zoo afterward.
PHLdyPayne: That was nice of the zoo to do.
croc1: One boy eventually went into the military and did well
the other I think ended up in more trouble.
DemonFrog: Do you still get into the field with your wife and
do any work with wild crocs?
croc1: She is a well known science journalist and writes a lot
about human disease etc, I finished a saltwater croc study in Palau
in 2003 and just finished a DNA study on them at the Peabody museum.
spidermom_nr: Which did you like better ..working at bronx zoo
or curator at central park? Also, please mention the names of the books
you have written so i can check them out? tyvm
croc1: Besides - I'm an old coot and long in the tooth for field
work at 70.
PHFaust: You are 70?
croc1: Working at the reptile house - more touchy feelie with
the animals and less paperwork.
croc1: besides YBIAZ we did snakes of the world - the world
of snales - Tetra - and the Fight for survival - most out of print
PHAlex: What is your favorite venomous snake?
croc1: The one that scared me the most was the Gold's tree cobra
- Pseudonaja goldi.
PHAlex: lol fast!
JayP: Having worked in zoos since the 50s what is the biggest
change you saw, and what are some venomous you have worked with and
do you think private owners should be allowed to own venomous reptiles.
I currently have around 20 venomous.
croc1: So fast it was ncontrolable and unpredictable.
PHAlex: wow
croc1: I've worked with just about all of the venomous snalke
groups and a lot of different species from Mambas to vipers and in between.
JustinM.: I just want to say that I really enjoyed reading "You
Belong in a ZOO"...thank you for the great read and insight to
my everyday life I encounter too.
JayP: those are the current venomous i have
roxydementia: Did your wife always like herps? My husband likes
most of ours at home but I cant get him out in the field. He's afraid
of vens cuz he has bad allergies to everything. My eyelash has duck
tape so he will feel better (shes in a good cage). Any hints on warming
him up to herp life? This could help a few of us :)
croc1: Yes she is a herpetologist too and did her dor on maternal
behavior of gators.
croc1: Give him a warm snuggle every time you get him in the
field - he'll learn to like it!
JayP: What's your opinions on private people keeping venomous
reptiles, some places ban everything, others use permits and a few have
no laws at all?
croc1: Problem is there is no readily available source of serum
- it comes from private stocks from zoo's and the north American stuff
in use today is very expensive and not as good as old stuff
RiseAbove: What's the deal with pantherophis vs elaphe? Which
one you use? Sometimes I say pantherophis for and people look at me
like I'm an idiot, and same for elaphe.
croc1: The new names for nearly all of the herps based on DNA
analysis is turning herp systematics on ts ear. I can't remember the
new names either. That's why EMBL is a good place to look for names
- the genera usually is changed but the species usually is the same.
PHFaust: Crocs are obviously a household favorite. I run a rescue
here and after years of resisting I started working with them last year
more. Now I am totally hooked and keep a small one for education. While
I am watched carefully by the local government, what do you think of
people keeping them captive? I'm quite sure in your career you saw many
being dumped at a certain 4 foot size.
croc1: It's a problem in that most crocs in private collections
are stunted and malnurished so they are no good for breeding, cant get
along with older animals and so most zoo's don't take them when they
get too big.
PHFaust: very true
croc1: The BZ no longer takes doanations and I'll bet I've turned
down thousands aof big pythons over the years
PHFaust: We work with a family that works at socializing our
rescues with both people and other size appropriate gators
PHFaust: And I understand the python thing!
loconorc: I dont know much about you, but I know you wrote a
book. Can you tell me about it?
croc1: Thats nice - when we wanted to breed cuban crocs we found
that there was not enough space in all the zooos in the US to keep one
big enough colony to insure survival for 100 years.
croc1: Space is the problem and money.
PHFaust: Money is always a problem. Much harder to get someone
to donate to a croc species than a big cat...Far less cuddly perception.
croc1: or birds - everyone loves bids!
gutbuckets_nr: croc1: do you do any training of the crocs or
other large reptiles?
PHFaust: Loco asked about your book... :) Would you say it is
basically a life time of herptology with a splash of humor?
croc1: We didnt know it but we were training crocs to come for
food years ago - the national zoo trained their cubans to enter a crate
for moving and lots of zoos now are training crocs to do things.
croc1: Yup loco - a lifetime with a lot of fun and some hard
times too - but mostly fun!
spidermom_nr: croc1. have u ever been bitten by ven. snake and
if so, what was your experince w/ it
PHFaust: Before we close, I just want to say how much I loved
the book Peter. I actually laughed several times during reading it...
It was wonderful to read that "experienced" keepers deal with
the fun of day to day exploits.... JayP you have the final question.
JayP: not sure if it was asked but what is your favorite venomous
snake to work with
croc1: When I was a very young keeper I was grabbed on the finger
by a Habu - it's fangs were so long they straddled my finger and no
envenomation - learned a big lesson - bitten by a 17' long anaconda
- does that count?
JayP: ouch
spidermom_nr: Yes, I'd say that counts.
PHFaust: Jay had the final question of what was your favorite
hot. I think this was asked already... Was that the goldi?
JayP: gold tree cobra ?
croc1: Yes indeed
PHFaust: On behalf of Kingsnake.com, Jeff B, and myself, I want
to take a moment to thank Peter Brazaitis for being part of our chat
week. Peter, thanks for taking the time out to chat with us on your
life.
RiseAbove: thanks Pete
JayP: thanks
spidermom_nr: tyvm peter..very interesting chat
PHFaust: Thank you peter for coming tonight....
spidermom_nr: I will check out your books...could you give names
of books??
PHFaust: And thank you and your wife for all the croc research
JayP: I think I'll have to get your book now.
PHFaust: The book is called You Belong in a Zoo and can be found
in the ks.com library.
loconorc: Thanks Peter, I'm gonna check out your book!
croc1: My pleasure and good luck to all of you in herpdom. I'l
be popping in on the regular chat so feel free to ask me anything you
want - my pleasure!
