01//02/2010: More press !

The last week has been full of suprises following the articles in the local papers last week. Another suprise today was to find we are in 2 national papers, the Daily Mail and the Daily Telegraph with out even knowing!! SF

27//01/2010: Front page of the local papers

Today we made the front page of the WItney Gazette and the Oxford Mail. The article is based on our collection and about the future plans of the UK's first Crocodile park. Hopefully this will raise more awareness about us and what we are trying to achieve, and with any luck a location for the zoo!! SF

27//11/2009: Crocodile Art!

A week ago i was contacted by a young artist called George Dobson, who wanted us to help him with his latest project. George's work has strong ecological foundation in conservation. His latest project called 'skin deep' is made up of large reptiles. The under side of the animals are gently painted with a non toxic paint then a relief print is taken. All the animals used are on the CITES list of endangered species in the wild. George wanted to use an endangered Crocodile as part of the project. We decided the perfect animal to use would be a Chinese Alligator as this species are an appendix 1 animal on the CITES list and the ICUN Red list as critically endangered. It is thought to be one of the most endangered crocodile species in the world with wild numbers around 150. Also it's a small crocodilian with a heavily armoured underside which proved to produce amazing results. The finished prints will be ondisplay in a gallery untill the end of January 2010. George has promised one of the prints to come back to Crocodiles of the World, which we would be very please to hang on the wall. SF

27//08/2009: Photo shoot for Dorling Kindersley

Today publishing giants Dorling Kindersley came to do a photo shoot for a new encyclopedia they are putting together. It is set to be the worlds largest natural history encyclopedia ever published and wont be completed until October 2010. The contents of the book will include factual information about the worlds flora and fauna. Throughout the book several species have been selected to do a 'virtual tour' on. These virtual tours will cover every inch of the animal/plant in great detail. Dorling Kindersley contacted me to discuss the possibilities of photographing some of our crocodiles for this new project. After a site visit we had planned the days shoot and which animals we would use. Attending the photo shoot was photographer Gary Ombler, Karen Self DK's managing art editor, and Kim another one of DK's editors, oh and me! Out of all the species we have here, we decided to do the 'virtual tour' on our male Cuban Crocodile. Between my self and Gary we managed to get some outstanding shots of him. We photographed some of our other animals but in less detail. These included, Chinese Alligator, Dwarf Caiman, Broad Snouted Caiman, West African Dwarf Crocodile (dad to our babies), Siamese Crocodile, some of the West African babies, Goulds Monitor, and Cumingi Water Monitor. The whole day went very very well and we were all very pleased with the results. I would like to thank Gary, Karen and Kim from Dorling Kindersley who were a fantastic professional team. Photos will be in our gallery shortly. SF

16//08/2009: More Hatchlings

Well what a day and a weekend!! I am overjoyed, i cannot put it into words. The remaining 14 West African Dwarf Crocodiles hatched today. The first one emerged at around 7am, they continued popping out until the last one showed his face at around 10pm. This is an amazing achievement for us and we are extremely pleased to have hatched all 20 eggs of this endangered species. This 100% hatch rate is very very rare even in captivity. As Shania is only 12 weeks old, she is a bit young to get involved so my other two sons Billy and Louie helped hatch a few of the eggs. They are always keen to help me with the Crocodiles and this time was a perfect oppourtunity to for them to get hands on and have an educational experience that they will never forget. Once again all measurements were taken and this time ranged between 210mm and 230mm overall length. I have put some more videos on you tube now. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYgfE1rvhkM, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N32FL1QlaFM, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90nk9V7jT7g, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S60VZno6Beg, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCq12RNG0KE, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfoJoS6UGno.SF

15//08/2009: Crocodiles of the World Hatches Endangered Species

I am very pleased to announce that this morning at 6.30am, the first croaking from the egg boxes were heard. At 4pm the eggs were inspected, 4 of them had tiny cracks in and another 2 with noses poking through on one end of the egg. Over the next 5 hours, 6 fully developed baby crocodiles emerged one by one. Some needed a little assistance while others hatched on their own. All markings on their heads were recorded along with the overall length over each animal. The sizes ranged from 205mm to 230mm. We will be adding photos to our gallery soon. We did catch this special moment on video, so if you would like to see it please follow these links. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbHdjBvKDqE and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZ-NZRNKkaI. Fingers crossed for the remaing 14 eggs. SF

21/05/2009: My Baby Daughter and our 1st clutch of crocodile eggs all in one day!!!

After observing breeding activity from our adult pair of West African Dwarf Crocodiles (Osteolaemus tetraspis), we are proud to announce that the female has today laid 22 eggs. This is her first clutch of eggs and is more than double the usual size. Twenty eggs were collected from her nest and placed in an incubator – they will now incubate for 80–100 days. Should any of the eggs hatch successfully this will be a very significant achievement for Crocodiles of the World for several reasons. The West African Dwarf Crocodile is a CITES Appendix I animal and has an IUCN classification of Vulnerable. Current wild numbers are estimated at just 25,000–100,000. We understand that this would be the first time the species has been successfully bred by a private keeper in the United Kingdom. The Bristol Zoo are the only other collection to have bred live young. Even more special was the fact that these eggs where laid on the same day that my baby girl Shania was born! What a lucky man – a clutch of crocodile eggs and a beautiful daughter in one day. SF

06/12/2008: New Arrivals

After several months of anticipation and excitement, today we took delivery of two new additions to our growing collection – a male and female Cuban Crocodile (Crocodylus rhombifer). Both were captive born in 2006 and currently measure around 106 cm (3.6 feet) although they mature rapidly and could grow up to 30 cm (12 inches) a year. This species are thought to be among the most intelligent of crocodiles species but are also considered to be extremely aggressive and these two youngsters are no exception! Given their sparse numbers in the wild it is a real privilege to have these animals join our collection. As the name would suggest, Cuban Crocodiles are only found in Cuba. Their location in the wild is limited to the Zapta swamps of Western Cuba. Check back for updates soon. SF