Reptile fire 3

Today we made our way over to Danny and Debbie's and got back to helping clean up.... Its a strange feeling to get there and even after almost a week, there is so much to do, you just don't know where to start.

In the last few days, we have been able to get some of the dangerous stuff down and out of the way, but now we had to get into the enclosures and clean out the soot, nails, dirt, and mess from the debris of the fire. Some of the crocs had been moved and we started to drain the tanks.

This became more of a chore than we thought because all of the drains were blocked with sludge and just a muddy mess. It was drizzling today and the rain would come in short spurts, so the scene now was even more of a hazard and mess....Mud, ash, wood, metal....It was all wet now. My God it was a mess!

Some of the survivor crocs were moved from their pens and we started on the drains. The stench was terrible and the sludge was just ooze. One of the tanks we were working in housed a mated pair of crocs.

These two were moved last night and this was the tank we were cleaning. As Danny started to dig into the drain, he found a very unexpected surprise....

In the drain were CROCODILE EGGS!!!! (Danny is the one that helped us hatch our geckos)

Danny said he wasn't sure if they were OK, but the water was warm enough and as long as she didn't "dump" the eggs due to the stress of the fire and all the activity, they could be fertile eggs and he might be able to hatch them.

As you can see in the pictures, some were crushed, but I think we finally recovered close to 10-11 eggs. Danny said that he would be able to tell in a few days if they are OK because they will "band" and a small band will show up on the egg.

I showed these pictures to a friend, and she had the coolest response....

"Through devastation, HOPE!"

Thanks Emily.....That is a VERY cool statement!!! I said even in my last blogs on this, SOMETHING good has to come from this!! Good people such as Danny and Debbie, to experience this in their lives, something magical just HAS to come from this...It just HAS to!

So we kept to the cleaning and were unable to get the drain unplugged so we started on their large Saltwater Crocodile.... I think this boy is probably 8 feet long from nose to tail, and I will let you judge from the pictures, but I would say he is all of 300-400lbs.... he is a BIG ole boy and saltwater crocodiles are very well known for their nasty disposition....And this croc is HUGE!!

Danny went in armed with a bamboo pole to encourage this big old boy to move out of the tank as his drain was clogged too. The salty wasnt to happy with that!

As I watched him in this cage, I reflected back to that small Brazilian cayman I tangle with the night before and realized, THIS is one EXTREMELY large and dangerous predator....I could not fathom the strength this croc must have.

We got him moved around enough to plunge the drain, but it was still plugged and Danny needed to get him out of the tank area... He was having NONE OF THIS!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfdrAsyRBHc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIorqrPQ6iA

I wish this video could capture the hissing and growling...It is pretty frickin creepy!! Man, AMAZING animals!!

side note: Sorry about the format of the writing in the Blog....Not sure how to correct this

We were able to get some of the drains working and Danny took me over to one of the drain spouts....he said...

"Hey Brad, if you want to find some crocodile teeth, this is where you will find them. They shed their teeth and sometimes you can find some cool ones!"

I looked around and out of that one big saltys tank, I found quite a few of his shed teeth...Smaller ones, but HIS....THAT WAS COOL!!! Thanks Danny!!

We didn't stay long, but just before we left, to add insult to injury, we found out that the damage has created some problems where now they don't have running water in their house.... Soot, ash, mud, chemicals, croc poop, sludge, muck...And they were cleaning up with wet-wipes.

As I walked out to the dumpster with a can full of garbage, I noticed there were some old pictures that got damaged...Wedding pictures, pictures of Debbie when she was like 19 years old holding a baby croc....Pictures of Danny 20 years ago working with his Caymans at a show.... Some of his turtles... Man, another, pictures of some of his skulls, and some of his fossils that were lost.... It was a  REALLY HEAVY day AGAIN!!! I just cant imagine what its going to be like when Debbie and Danny just CRASH!! And we are only seeing it a couple of hours a day, a couple of days.... They are there 24-7 trying to manage this, and STILL have 2 crocks in their bedroom.

We told them to come to our house and shower and they could come anytime. We haven't heard from them and I think they feel like its a burden to come use our bathrooms....I am telling you, these are some VERY cool people, don't make many people like Debbie and Danny!!! I just cant express how bad Donna and I feel over all of this.... Man, they really need a BREAK huh!?

It looks like they are going to need some assistance. The insurance isn't going to cover what they need and I am going to start trying to outsource some assistance for hauling off the wreckage, helping clean up and see if I can find some folks who might be helpful in building enclosures to help Danny and Debbie out....its just soooo much for them to handle.

I would love to find some people who would be willing to offer a front loader, a couple of dump trucks, some lumber and nails, some framers, some electrical materials and some electricians.... I am going to see if maybe we can take on part of this with YouthBuild.... These folks sure need the help, and God Bless them, its just so hard for them to ask....So I am going to ask for them!....

If anyone out there knows of someone who could help, PLEASE contact me and let me know who to call or if you can help.....

OWTFDWIT!!!!! I hope we can help them move through this.... I think a benefit might be in the future, so please stay tuned.

I also want to thank all of you following this, sending prayers and contacts to help.... I have always been so taken away at the giving nature of people when they help those in crisis. Thank you all!!