Crocodile Encounter

I was perusing online for things to do near Houston and came across this Crocodile Encounter about an hour South of the city. I thought it would be a neat "American experience" for Jule since they don't have gators or crocs in Europe (at least I think they don't!). Turns out it was a great experience for all. The guy who runs it (Chris) basically has tons of acres of land and he built a bunch of enclosures to house crocodiles, gators, and tortoises. My friend Kerry brought her family along and we all agreed it was a great time. The kids were great, but of course, in typical Houston fashion it was HOT HOT HOT!!!

We got there a little early so we got a chance to look around at the snakes and stuff he had in cages.

Burmese Python

I had a hard time getting close enough to get really good pictures of the snakes, but this one was cool, albino something...

I have trouble getting a good picture of just the two of them, so no surprise that this was the best shot I could get of all FOUR! Ha! From left to right: Emmery, Carson, Conor, Marc.

Baby crocodiles.

Here he is feeding the babies some pellet food. The tour had just started and Emmery was already begging him to let her feed them!

This was in a big field where he kept all the tortoises. They just walk around and you can feed them. Emmery kept getting nervous when they would get to close. I kept telling her, "don't worry, you can definitely outrun these guys!!"

Marc loved the turtles. He kept saying, "I wanna pet him, I wanna pet him!"

Yep, that's half a chicken!

As Chris was feeding this one, another gator made its way over. He told us this was the big guy's girlfriend. Awww, gator couple!

Chris said the female had a nest of eggs over on the other side of the enclosure. He said to be aware as we walked around because she attacks when people get close to the nest. And boy did she attack!!

Here, Chris is feeding a Nile Crocodile. A little education on the difference between alligators and crocodiles... Gators have a wider snout, crocs have a skinny snout. Gators are generally bigger, but slower and more docile. Crocs are smaller and meaner, way meaner. So why the HELL is Chris standing two feet from this crocodile?? He said he has had this one (and others) for a long time and has trained them well. Hmmmm. Better him than us, right?

Ha ha very funny.

Gator or croc??? Look at the snout.

Pretty cool, and a bit unnerving, to be this close to these guys!

Looks nice and safe right? Would you wade through it? I believe there are at least 5 crocodiles in the water. Probably more but I can spot 5.

Bucket O' Chicken

So after we finished the tour, Chris brought us all back inside. He took out one of the baby gators and brought it over to the kids. Emmery touched it right away, no reservations, no fear!!

Then he brought it back over to Emmery and asked her if she wanted to hold it! She didn't even hesitate, "YES!"

After seeing a 3-year-old hold a gator, I think everyone got a little braver! We started passing them around so everyone got a chance.

Marc kept begging to hold it too. Everything Emmery does he must do!

On our way home. Marc had to call grandma and tell her all about our day!