# My Baby Crocodile



## BallaratWildlife (Sep 13, 2011)

Just thought id share a photo of my baby girl Jackie the Salty


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## cadwallader (Sep 13, 2011)

Thats awesome where do you keep that?


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## r3ptilian (Sep 13, 2011)

Looks a bit small for its age;-)


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## njames (Sep 13, 2011)

Wow! You're either a really small bloke or that's a decent sized croc!


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## MathewB (Sep 13, 2011)

I think we need an enclosure pic.


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## bucket (Sep 13, 2011)

i don't think you will be able to pick him up in a year or two
how much does it eat each day?


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## BallaratWildlife (Sep 13, 2011)

she's in the process of a seriouse enclosure upgrade, will get picks up over the next few weeks

she eats once a week usualy a rat or 1/4 rabbit, i inherited her from a bloke her grew her up from a hatchy, she's 16 so still growing


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## K3nny (Sep 13, 2011)

reminds me of a lab demonstrator i had, same name n same stare 



BallaratWildlife said:


> she eats once a week usualy a rat or 1/4 rabbit, i inherited her from a bloke her grew her up from a hatchy, she's 16 so still growing



that's a pretty small meal isn't it? assuming it is a 'normal' sized rat n stuff
but then again i've got no experience with crocodilians

ever got tagged?


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## Bel03 (Sep 14, 2011)

cadwallader said:


> Thats awesome where do you keep that?



Im guessing not in the bath tub.......:lol:


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## BallaratWildlife (Sep 14, 2011)

K3nny said:


> reminds me of a lab demonstrator i had, same name n same stare
> 
> 
> 
> ...



that amount of food seems to work fine on her, the majority of captive crocs i see are pretty fat, used to work in townsville with em and 3/4 a rabbit worth of pork would feed a 400kg croc, because they dont do much they require fairly little food, a croc farm would grow her up uch faster but i grow her nice and slow so i have time to build her next enclosure!


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## snakeynewbie (Sep 14, 2011)

That amount of food seems about right to me, we feed two crocs at the park I work at, one is man eating size other a little smaller, they get the equivelent of about one chook each a week.


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## waruikazi (Sep 14, 2011)

Lol @ down syndrome crocodiles!


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## BallaratWildlife (Sep 14, 2011)

How is she a down syndrome crocodile?


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## waruikazi (Sep 14, 2011)

Extra chromosome? Maybe it's just the pictures, but her snout looks deformed. Too short and twisted upward.



BallaratWildlife said:


> How is she a down syndrome crocodile?



Scratch that, her snout is definately deformed.


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## BallaratWildlife (Sep 14, 2011)

she is the offspring of two lucistic parents in NT so is certainly inbred to some degree, but her snout seems pretty average to me, does turn slightly upwards (as seems to happen to croc who dont ever get UV (past owner) but its certianly not short for her size i wouldnt be calling her a down syndrome crocodile


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## crocodile_dan (Sep 14, 2011)

The snout is more likely the result of her resting her jaw against enclosure furnishings provided she has been fed the correct diet rather than an issue with UV, this seems to be supported by the rub mark at the front of her bottom jaw in the first pic. UV is generally not essential (I'm not saying it isn't beneficial) provided nutrition and housing is correct.


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## BallaratWildlife (Sep 14, 2011)

yeah if i hadnt seen her enclosure i would have said the same, but her old enclosure was massive, and the mark on her jaw was during catching her up to move her here, i still wouldnt say UV is essential, any curving is barly noticable and its just one possability, but its the only thing she didnt have, cant speak however for how she was kept as a hatchling


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## crocodile_dan (Sep 14, 2011)

I'd still say it's more probable it was from leaning on something in the enclosure during growth, the only croc we had develop curvature of the snout was due to her getting into a tight corner of her enclosure and 'wedging' there, and husbandry was constant across the others.


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## ianinoz (Sep 15, 2011)

Bet he doesn't get the run of the house. 

What do your neighbours think of your pet ?

I can imagine the sign on the front gate at your house "BEWARE - TRESPASSERS WILL BE EATEN !!!).


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## Creed (Sep 15, 2011)

BallaratWildlife said:


> i wouldnt be calling her a down syndrome crocodile



Not to her face anyway.


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## pythrulz (Sep 15, 2011)

Not exactly the baby croc I was exspecting to see looking good


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## Scleropages (Sep 15, 2011)

Can we see the old enclosure?

Just wondered where people keep crocks down south where it's cold.


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## BallaratWildlife (Sep 18, 2011)

her current enclosure is on old root celler near my house (made of thick bluestone it used to be used to keep vegetables cool in summer itd like 90 years old) but it turns out its also just as good at keeping heat in, the room is about 3 meters by 5 meters, it has an astroturf floor, 2 275watt bulbs and an electric blacket and the bottom 40cm of a 7000 letire water tank, the water is left unheated and she does fine.


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## MathewB (Sep 19, 2011)

Pics?


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## Rhomany (Sep 22, 2011)

Awwww I'm so jealous! What a gorgeous crocodile! I'm going to move to Vic one day so I can have one... or three!


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## coldblood (Sep 22, 2011)

dreamt as a kid of owning a croc one day......then i grew up and the cost of housing it as it got bigger put me off. Still, id be lying if i said i wasn't a little jealous of yours.......awesome!!


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