Crocodilian Conservation BBQ.....

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June 18th Shawn Heflik (from GEO WILD'S Python Hunters)will be holding the 2nd annual BBQ for croc preservation at his facility in Palm Bay, Florida.

Go to Facebook and look Shawn up and you'll see information. Activities include swimming, kayaking and fishing. For a donation of 5 dollars take a pic with his albino gators (your camera). Dinner and music as well as an auction. Numerous shows as well.

If you can't find him on FB ask questions here and I'll try to answer them.

 

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A great time yesterday.....

I had a great time yesterday for a great cause. There are less than 90 Philippine Crocs on the planet with fewer in the wild. The key to its survival is the preservation of its habitat. Oddly, this species doesn't get along as juveniles. Only one can be kept at a time in an enclosure. This had hampered captive breeding projects as most zoo admins won't dedicate an enclosure to just one juvenile animal.
Shawn Heflick opened up his house and facilities to around 70 people or so yesterday with a bar-b-q and activities. Over $4,000 was raised. I met the Python Hunters and many other people.
My only regret is not wearing my glasses. I had my camera on the "up close" setting most of the day and the pics are not so great. But I hope you enjoy them as I'll try to give a good description.
We began in the reptile room where most of the pics stunk but.....first pic is of a few skulls. Shawn had two 55 gallon tanks full of bugs for carcass cleaning. Then the freezer turned incubator full of albino alligator eggs. Shawn and his first albino gator. The last two are anery Slender Nosed Crocs. The first is names Ninja. Cause she is fast and nasty, always looking for someone to kill.

 

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Continued....

The kiddie pool, chock full of baby gators. Albino Iguanas. Then the gator from hell. She was after us before we walked up to the fence. Of course, behind her is her active nest.

 

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Kicking myself.....

We were in the albino gator pen for some up close shots. I took about twenty pics none of which took. But here is one as an example to show how close we were. Shawn has one male and two females named.....male Van, the two girls are Nilla and Ice. Nilla was on her nest. I later corrected my camera mistake and got a good shot of her. These animals are beautiful. Like drawn in outlined by an artist. Every scale defined and bright. The Sulcatas are numerous....dropped off every so often. Two pens worth. The blurry shot is pen number two where the hole was kin to a clown car. Everytime I turned around a tortoise came out of it. I counted eight total....

 

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Continued.....

Hands on with the gators. This little girl didn't hesitate to wrestle her a gator. I'll give the two guys in the second pic credit. Including their dad in the background. At the begining of the day they wouldn't touch anything, not even the little albino gator. But here they are a few hours later holding an Anaconda. The pond in the backyard. Some nice totems made by the neighbor for the auction. And finally the Python Hunters and Tera who is on the show from time to time taking care of Shawn's animals while he is the Glades.

 

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Coming to the end....

The girls of.....last year a calender was made of young ladies in school for herpetology. The girl with her rear end toward is Emily Maple from the W. Palm Beach Zoo. The dark haired beauty in the middle is Denisse Abreu from the Reptile Discovery Center in Deland Florida.
Then some vagrant who snuck in for a quick pic....

 

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Last one....

and the guest of honor. Denisse is holding the most beautiful croc I've seen. The Philippine croc. One of three in the States. It was getting dark and this is the best pic I could get.
Again it was a great day of meeting people, swapping stories and eating some great food. And information. From gator nest building and temps to a great clarification on the laws concerning the keeping of pythons in Florida. Michael Cole gave me some great insight into the Florida "ban" which doesn't really exist. And wait till you see what kind of reptiles are coming to Daytona this year. Michael had born yesterday morning as he was leaving for the Q, leucistic Burmese Pythons. White from head to tail.

 

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Dagnabit....

wrong pic! Here is the correct pic for the last post....