The Spring Break Croc has definitely moved into the neighborhood. I see her in the canal mornings and evenings and she frequently warms up in the boat ramp. She only occasionally gets into the flower bed but moves close to watch/listen whenever I make any noise in the area.
I am purchasing the Flip Video Ultra Series Camcorder 
Stay tuned.
The Spring Break Croc was not around when I got home this afternoon. I decided to take this time to add more compost and mulch to the nest site. After about an hour of work I was finished and I hoped the croc would be happy with the results, about an additional 8 inches of rich compost and mulch. It was about 6pm and I checked around the canal bank and she was nowhere in site.
I went back outside just after sunset and saw her near the boat ramp. I went over to the nest site to see if she had been in it, she hadn’t. When I went to take another photo of her at the ramp she had left and I saw her head at the bank next to the nest site. I walked back to that area and was preparing to photo her when suddenly she was ashore. When I say suddenly she was ashore, I am not kidding. She went from fully in the water to fully on land, up a 2 foot high embankment, so fast it almost seemed impossible. If I had been standing on the bank there would have been no way to move away in time.
Talk about a wake up call. I have seen, on TV, plenty of film of Crocs attacking prey on waterway banks and am always amazed at the explosion of motion. Seeing this first hand was fantastic. She obliviously doesn’t simply climb up the canal bank but uses her tail to catapult herself out of the water and onto land. Once she was on land she just sat there motionless for some time. After taking some photos I left her alone for the rest of the evening.
After two days of not seeing the Spring Break Crocodile, or any obivious signs, finally on Thursday morning the nesting site was all dug up again. Mike had smoothed out the previous digging so I could detect any new activity. And she was in the water this morning. I was happy I had not disturb her and caused her to abandoned this nest site.
When I came home in the afternoon she was basking in my boat ramp which is on the other side of the property from the nest site. I didn’t bother her any more today but went to bed happy that she seems to have found a nesting site she likes.
Tuesday evening I got a visit from Mike, an American Crocodile researcher for the State of Florida. Unfortunately the Spring Break Croc didn’t make an appearance, for the first time since Saturday. Mike checked out the nest site and determined, as he suspected, that no egg laying has yet occured. This usually occurs in late April or early May. Mike told me this is the time that the female crocodiles are checking out nest sites to try to determine the best site and since she has been hanging around for several days and continues to enter the nest site and dig, he suspects she likes the location.
He related some stories of other Upper Keys nestings, including some others on occupied property, and let me know that if I had no objections they would let nature take its course. He requested I keep him informed and he hoped to get a chance to see the crocodile. I showed him some of my photos and using this photo he was able to identify the Spring Break Croc by clippings of the tail scoots (the bony ridges along each side and top of the tail) from a previous capture in May of 2005.
This beautiful Saturday morning I was able to sleep in until around 10am since the neighborhood was surprisingly quiet. This despite having wonderful spring weather expected for the entire weekend and it is Spring Break time. Usually my subdivision, primarily second or vacation homes, becomes quite active on specific weekends and holidays. You can understand my surprise when I woke to a near silent morning.
As I made my way to my canal side patio I looked toward my usually empty neighbor’s yard to see if they had made the trip down to paradise. I never noticed if anyone was there since this is what greeted me. This is an American Saltwater Crocodile sunning itself in an empty raised flower bed.
I live near the Crocodile Lake National Wildlife Refuge and have seen Crocs in my canal and occasionally sunning on my boat ramp as well as in the surrounding waters while boating. This was the first time I have had one well out of the water in my yard. I guess it is time for a little autobio. I have lived all my life, 50+ years, in South Florida and have spent many hours enjoying subtropical nature. I worked for 11 years as an Animal Control Officer where I handled many different animals other then the standard dogs and cats, including the occasional small alligator. I also, for a number of years, was a State licensed, nuisance wildlife trapper although I never handled gator or croc complaints. So as you might surmise, I didn’t run frightened into my home and dial 911. I did go inside but it was to get my camera so I could get some pictures before she disappeared back into her watery world.
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The seventh — and largest — Burmese python to make its way into the Florida Keys since the exotic constrictors were discovered here in April was found dead on U.S. 1 at Mile Marker 112 last week.
The snake, measuring longer than 10 feet, has added to officials’ recent concerns about the invasive predator slithering its way into the island chain — and its endangered species habitats. Steve Klett, manager of the Crocodile Lake National Wildlife Refuge, said he worries a breeding pair will establish itself here, which could wipe out the population of endangered species such as the Key Largo wood rat. To reach 8 feet in length, a python would have to consume about 75 to 80 wood rats, he said.
A new law that went into effect Jan. 1 will not help the immediate situation, but could curb the problem in the future. It requires people who buy an exotic reptile to pay a $100 fee and have a 2-centimeter microchip with their identification implanted under the reptile’s skin. South Florida has experienced an influx of the snakes as owners illegally release their unwanted pets into the wild, intentionally or by accident.
The six previously found constrictors have averaged a little over 7 feet long. They have been found near the Key Largo School, Card Sound Road Bridge and in the Dagny Johnson Key Largo Hammock Botanical State Park, across C.R. 905 from the Crocodile Lake National Wildlife Refuge. One was a live python in the state park that had devoured a wood rat.
The Keys celebrate the bounty of the sea — Florida lobster, yellowtail, sweet pink shrimp, grouper, stone crab claws and more — during the third annual Florida Keys Seafood Festival from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Jan. 19. The event, at Key West’s Bayview Park at Truman Avenue and Eisenhower Drive, features music and children’s activities as well as such specialties as conch chowder and conch fritters. All the seafood available for purchase will be prepared by fishermen and their families. Admission is free. Proceeds benefit the Florida Keys Commercial Fishermen’s Association and scholarships for college-bound children of commercial fishermen. Call 800-527-8539.
I am sure most of you have spent some time on the bank or dock or your favorite waterway feeding the local fish or ducks. If you were lucky you might have caught sight of that legendary 20 pounder nobody ever seems to be able to land.
What if I could guaranty you the chance to hand feed fish in the 100 pound range, and have your picture taken while shaking hands with the fishes mouth. All you need to do is find your way to Islamorada’s Robbie’s Marina in the Florida Keys.
Robbie and his wife Mona started feeding a tarpon they named Scarface 18 years ago. Scarface appeared floundering in the shallow waters near the dock; Robbie saw the struggling tarpon and, thinking it had swum too shallow and gotten stuck on the bank, went out into the water to free it. He lifted the fish and saw that the right side of its jaw was torn open. Hoping to revive the tarpon, Robbie placed it in the oxygen-rich shrimp tank and called old Doc Roach. The doctor showed up with his wife’s mattress needles and some twine, and Scarface became the first known tarpon with stitches. After several days of force-feeding, Scarface showed good recovery and weight gain; six months later he was released into the waters off the dock. Afterwards, Scarface continued to frequent the docks; sometimes bringing a friend. Soon more and more of the fish began to appear.
Today, the tradition continues, with visitors from all across the world coming to marvel at the spectacle and offer these magnificent creatures a snack.
More on Islamorada. Read more »
A commercial lobster diver faces an arraignment hearing in local court Friday on a count of possessing artificial-reef materials on the water.
Manuel Ravelo Jr., 35, of Key West was booked into the Monroe County jail Dec. 24 and released after posting $1,000 bond on the misdemeanor count. Ironically, Ravelo was named in 2005 to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Spiny Lobster Advisory Board as a commercial diver. The panel later voted to ask that he be removed because of missed meetings.
An information report on Ravelo’s case was filed Nov. 21 by the office of Monroe County State Attorney Mark Kohl stemming from an incident at sea June 11. According to a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission report, officers on patrol three miles north of Key West conducted a boat-safety and catch inspection aboard a 29-foot boat carrying Ravelo and another man.
Officers reported finding “many pieces of rebar approximately [3 feet] in length” along with a sledgehammer and tool bag. The iron reinforcing rods and tools were suitable for use in building an illegal underwater habitat to attract lobster, according to the FWC. Ravelo would not offer an alternative purpose for the materials aboard his boat, officers reported. Ravelo could not be reached for comment this week.
Underwater habitats, also known locally as casitas, are used to provide spaces where lobster congregate. During lobster season, divers can go to the site and collect many crustaceans rather than looking for them in their natural habitats. While commercial divers maintain such habitats are beneficial to the marine environment, biologists fear the structures could be detrimental to the lobster’s normal behavior. Hundreds of these structures are believed to have been built illegally around the Keys, according to government officials.
Under current state law, it is illegal to build such an underwater habitat without permits, or to carry on the water “any materials reasonably suited … for use and placement as an artificial reef.”
Iguanas that toppled from trees in a torpor during this week’s cold snap could spring back to life, experts say. Just “don’t take them inside,” warned Dr. Doug Mader, owner of the Marathon Veterinary Clinic. “When they’re cold and in a torpor - the reptile version of hibernation - you can touch them or handle them up. But when they warm up, they go back to being a wild animal.”
Mader recounted a story from the last severe temperature plunge that littered the ground with stunned iguanas unable to move. “One sweet lady called because she was so worried after seeing an iguana fall out of her tree. She thought it was dead and frozen,” he said. “We told her not to take it into the house. It was a big one, maybe 5 feet. But you know how people are,” Mader said. “When it woke up, she couldn’t understand why it seemed to be coming after her. She couldn’t get it to leave.”
Kent Heeter of Tavernier helped collect and rehabilitate several iguanas from a prior winter as a Florida Keys Herpetological Society effort. “When they start dropping from trees because they can’t hang on, it can look like it’s raining iguanas,” Heeter said. “But when they wake up, they are not docile. They want to get away.”
Kim Gabel, an agent for the Monroe County Cooperative Extension Service, said the cold weather South Florida experienced Wednesday and Thursday was enough to immobilize the iguanas. Many were either just stunned by the cold in their tracks or stiffened up and fell out of trees. Temperatures during the two-day cold spell dropped as low as 30 degrees in some areas of the Keys. “They’re probably very much alive,” Gabel said. Read more »