Keep crocs?

They can be a handful.  They grow big.  They are mean (for the most part).  They require space!  But to own one is to love one, I suppose.

We have a couple, and we've been working on building outside enclosures so they can bask in natural sunlight in the summertime.  Of course everything takes time and money...the former we have enough of, the latter, not so much!  This project is ongoing.

Anyway last year we put our Morelets crocodile outside and he had a tendency to crawl out of his pond, and get behind it.  He scuffed himself up a bit, and we didn't want that to happen again, so we had to reinvent his enclosure.

First we had to get a new pond.  We had been using large Rubbermaid horse troughs, which we were quite fond of, until they sprung leaks/cracks, and rendered themselves useless.  After researching how to fix them, on the internet, and finding no good answer, we did find that Rubbermaid seemed to just shrug off complaints.    Since these ponds can cost upwards of over $300, we were not amused.  We did find a suitable pond, made by Tuff Stuff, Glenco, MN, in the US of recycled materials (!), at a reasonable price, that seems quite adequate for the Morelets.

We then made a platform for him to get up on, and covered any "holes" he might try to dive down, to get behind the tub.  We have been using dog enclosures made by PetSafe, from Lowe's and they worked quite nicely, but since we saw the Morelets climbing the side of the enclosure last year to get into his tub (even though there was a ramp), we decided to put a cover on it, of chain link.  He does have a grassy area he can get to, if he wants to.

So we finally got him out there this summer.  No pictures of the struggle as we were both occupied.  Here are a couple of shots after we got him situated.

Of course if you're not up for all this work and cost, you can always get yourself one of these, and the effect sometimes, on the neighbors, is just as dramatic! (He's actually "longer" than the Morelets!)