In this line of work, there are days that you are tried for patience, even when you have carefully worked daily on honing this skill. Patience is hands down the reason why I can work as a reptile trainer. Can I wait 20 minutes for a 900 pound alligator to walk up a waterfall? Absolutely. I did not see this one coming.
The other day, while training one of my favorite species, our bachelor group of four Broad Snouted Caimans, I was talking softly to the most rediculous creature of the lot, Jose. Jose is on the bottom tier of dominace among these hulking 6-7 foot dragons. Caimans can lunge out of the water and swing back and forth, with the worst aim of all crocs. Today, however, the air is beginning to cool a bit, and the Caimans are moving slightly slower and with more purpose. Jose gently takes a rat, and I think, "what a clever boy, so gentle." Before I can let this thought sink in, he snaps off the aluminum top jaw to the feeding tongs I was using.
Thirty minutes later, after talking my sweet Jose onto land, we have caught the beast in a catch pole, somehow finessed a 4 inch diameter piece of PVC into his jaws, and various vet staff members and other animal care staff with long arms are trying their luck at extracting the metal piece. There is nothing found in his belly, so he is swept off in a flurry of reptile and vet staff members to our state of the art hospital for radiographs. The results showed that Jose, while waiting for me to come back and capture him, had regurgitated not only the metal piece, but both of the jumbo rats he had eaten at feeding time. The lesson I learned that day is, while it is important to check your animals for obstructions, the Caiman is still truely a wild and incredible creature who can take care of himself. I also learned that I will be buying new tongs in the near future.
