Inside Gator Enclosures at Smooth Waters Wildlife Park

0:02 welcome everyone Adam the whoo here

0:02 coming to you down a rather desolate

0:04 Road in deleon springs florida central

0:08 florida to be exact and today I'm going

0:11 to be checking out smooth waters

0:14 Wildlife Park fun smiles and crocodiles

0:21 join me shalyah just to give some

0:24 perspective it's quite a ways down this

0:28 unpaved road it's like that we're on a

0:31 secret mission and I say we because I

0:34 think I've picked up a hitchhiker it

0:41 says private property no trespassing but

0:46 the gates open and we have been invited

0:48 for a very special tour it's like

0:55 there's a little nature trail over here

0:58 to the left and the main entry point is

1:03 to the right I want to hold them to sure

1:06 it's not every day you get to hold an

1:08 alligator without dying going name of

1:12 the game is support so just keep the

1:13 hands out like that one hand right here

1:15 under the tail okay and one right under

1:18 the chest and then that's it he Wiggles

1:22 don't worry nobody's ever been wiggled

1:24 to death by an alligator I've never held

1:26 a reptile slide wicked reptile like a

1:30 lizard tiny lizard Wow isn't alligator

1:35 technically is a lizard right no it's a

1:38 crocodilian it just looks like a larger

1:42 lizard ya know if he didn't have the

1:46 tape on his mouth would he be trying to

1:47 snap that's the real bulk of the

1:50 question that's the real question and

1:53 him probably not and that's only because

1:56 we do a lot of training with the animals

1:59 here in conditioning and they're like

2:02 phenomenally more intelligent than

2:04 people realize like so that guy knows

2:06 he's at work right now and he knows that

2:08 that put on a show he knows that this is

2:10 basically just a stupid chicken suit

2:13 but he's getting a paycheck for it so

2:15 it's like okay he gets a treat later

2:17 yeah so as soon as that comes off he'll

2:19 swim out in this pond turn back around

2:21 and then he'll be sitting there waiting

2:22 for the paycheck

2:23 can you feel that when I'm yet tough

2:24 back yep so as courses his back is he

2:27 still has a lot of feeling there mm-hmm

2:28 yep yeah there see I mean you could

2:31 breathe on him and he'll feel that feels

2:35 that buddy look at his eyes like he's

2:38 like don't breathe on me because they

2:40 don't make facial expressions so they

2:43 can't you can't tell is he happy sad

2:45 sick hurt and whatever you know unless

2:46 you know what to look for

2:48 welcome to Jurassic Park

3:21 so there's some signs you know so you

3:21 can pretty much figure it out what's

3:22 around but it we tripped and fell into a

3:26 pretty neat little niche I guess you

3:30 could say because I'm constantly in here

3:33 or whether it's me or somebody else but

3:35 we're always in here so the guests

3:37 pretty much gets like an unofficial tour

3:40 guide the entire time he was saying this

3:42 rooster kinda rules the pen rules the

3:47 roost if you will you could see the

3:49 Gators down there but they are not the

3:52 leaders of this enclosure it's this

3:57 chicken just chillin in the back corner

3:59 is an Asian water monitor look at him

4:05 they're just enjoying the sunrise from

4:08 that end most of its shaded at this time

4:11 of the day but he's found the Sun back

4:13 there in the corner

4:34 just chowing down

4:34 whoo almost got your finger it was

4:36 pretty close

4:37 pretty close Oh

4:55 just like alligators and crocodiles

4:55 there is a difference between a turtle

4:57 and a tortoise ones in the water ones on

5:00 land one walks like this you'll know him

5:04 off like that

5:04 just on the shore of the murky swamp the

5:08 biggest Gator out here on property just

5:11 hanging out right there that's trapper

5:13 that's his name rather large he's about

5:16 13 feet long that's twice my height

5:19 stretched out it's pretty big there's

5:23 another one right there

5:25 Siamese crocodiles

5:26 once I mentioned his name he turned

5:30 towards me he's having a staredown

5:31 contest case he's looking the other way

5:34 now I'm off his radar well probably not

5:39 what is it

5:42 I didn't say whenever I see a tortoise

5:47 of this size I always think of the

5:48 neverending story we've been down here

5:53 forever the nothing

6:09 I think he gave up the problem with this

6:09 species is the males are insanely

6:11 territorial like we got another thick

6:14 one over in that yard over there but a

6:15 lot of the time most of the time I mean

6:17 they'll they'll sometimes fight to the

6:19 death so if you put put them together

6:22 like a 1 to 1 like that you could be

6:25 running into an issue if you had like 10

6:29 big males you could put them all

6:30 together

6:31 theoretically cuz that it kind of

6:32 dilutes that tension he passed away any

6:35 animals that he did have here the state

6:36 you know put wherever new homes and

6:39 stuff and then the place was just

6:40 completely abandoned for over two years

6:42 and then we stumbled across its and the

6:46 business partner who just didn't know

6:49 what to do with the place so I was like

6:50 oh well here I'll make you a deal and

6:52 then we took it over and renovated I

6:53 even tried to draw it on the sign here

6:55 here's a crocodile has that long

6:56 v-shaped head and the alligator has the

7:00 you or you know broad over akkad eyes

7:02 not native to Florida right no American

7:05 crocodiles are native to Florida but and

7:07 most it pretty much everything we have

7:09 here is not native to Florida you know

7:11 they're all exotics like the Nile Crocs

7:13 and the Siamese crocodiles and stuff but

7:15 I I did notice that I like to point this

7:18 out that my alligator head looks more

7:19 like a happy ghosts giving the thumbs up

7:23 now in case you're wondering there's one

7:26 make it a beeline right over there yeah

7:29 they're green yeah look at it green

7:31 stuff there is it's not algae it's not I

7:34 don't know whatever else you might think

7:36 it is it's it's a duck weed so I don't

7:38 know if you've ever come across duck

7:39 weed that's a teeny tiny little plant

7:41 but that stuff is phenomenal it's it's

7:44 great to have in the ponds it's a great

7:46 natural water filter you notice you see

7:48 how he's got it all over him right now

7:49 so it was cool last night so as soon as

7:53 the Sun comes up and starts hitting that

7:55 it warms up that mat so as they come out

7:57 they'll just come out real slow and let

8:00 it just sit on them like that because

8:01 it's like an electric blanket where do

8:03 you feed the Gators and the Crocs to you

8:07 generally just film-related people that

8:11 ask too many questions about what we

8:12 feed okay more questions he likes to

8:17 jump out and try and scare me

8:19 sometimes like he just that's his fun

8:21 thing he'll go and he'll do if I make a

8:23 big pile he'll hide under it they'll

8:25 crawl and push himself under it and it's

8:29 not like I can't see him I mean he's got

8:31 a big giant tail but I know what he

8:35 wants so I'll come by and just smack

8:36 Holly neither the sticks and out he

8:38 jumps like a jack-in-the-box and I swear

8:41 if he could laugh or giggle he'd be like

8:42 ah ha ha he runs off to the pool the

8:45 real question is does he like being

8:46 petted more or does he like being fed

8:49 more are you getting under his neck

8:51 there you getting get down in the nether

8:54 regions

9:04 they remind me of like a cute old couple

9:04 I guess like he's all like get off my

9:06 lawn and she's like not at all

9:07 just calm down misbehaving in front of

9:10 the you know I don't know if he's

9:12 probably not gonna do it now but he

9:13 might start kissing and moaning to see

9:14 how he's getting all puffy puffy I got

9:19 to pick up some trash buddy you think

9:23 it'd be wise hold on these eyes that's

9:27 like if I happen to just oh yeah but see

9:34 look he hasn't opened his eyes yet it's

9:37 just you see when all the behaviors all

9:38 the posturing so this is the female down

9:44 here yeah yeah just yeah I mean it that

9:48 doesn't make any difference for the

9:50 dynamic it just so happens that she

9:52 happens to be a female so it works for

9:55 the story really well and he happens to

9:57 be a male but as far as them getting

10:02 along and cohabitating really well are

10:13 you trying to get bit by the chicken I'm

10:14 not trying to you told me to do it you

10:15 know do it again do it for the film do

10:17 it for the camera I'm gonna Peck him oh

10:19 no no no oh I think I won I have control

10:26 over him now he's not packing at me I'm

10:28 bigger than him

10:34 see we're friends now we're good

10:34 you're like an animal trainer I'm the

10:39 chicken whisperer oh no he's biting

10:40 again

10:53 I'm a little frightened this is now

10:53 inside of an alligator enclosure you

10:55 hear them all running away right now

11:04 there's about a hundred alligators in

11:04 here

11:37 this kind of frightening have to be

11:37 honest I don't I don't really like this

11:38 what would I do if one like if this one

11:40 popped out of the water

11:42 sorry what if it started charging

11:44 towards you what would you do I mean

11:46 this

11:46 besides soil here besides soil yourself

11:48 what would you do push you out of the

11:50 way I'm sorry but I can actually see

11:52 down in the duckweed you see how it's

11:54 all clear

12:19 definitely a lot of alligators well one

12:19 thing that I do with them

12:21 with or without I don't have a tail one

12:31 thing we try to do with them too is

12:33 desensitize them to certain things and

12:37 you know like in a show or a training

12:39 thing or whatever it looks all like oh

12:41 my gosh this guy's crazy and love-love

12:44 like you can even kind of do this and

12:45 people think they're not you know or if

12:47 I try to touch them on the head or

12:50 anything or or whatever but we gotta go

13:05 to the other side of the pool that's

13:06 where you're spies but getting them used

13:11 to touch does a lot of things in a

13:18 practical sense so I'm just paying

13:22 attention to him right now

13:24 I don't have any food you see that you

13:36 know that all right

13:38 this is hang tight okay so touching him

13:40 on the tail like this he knows I don't

13:44 have any food so he's like what do you

13:45 don't molest me without payment you know

13:49 but by desensitizing them to this and

13:52 getting them used to being touched on

13:54 the tail and stuff like that at some

13:57 point in his life he's gonna get hurt

13:58 possibly or get sick nope come this way

14:00 this way come on this side this way and

14:07 if I have to take blood or give him

14:09 medicine then the tail is where you want

14:12 to do that and traditionally if they're

14:14 sick or you have to take blood or you

14:16 have to give them antibiotics or any any

14:18 treatment at all you'd have to catch

14:20 them and restrain them you know so you

14:23 can get to bed in here and all that good

14:24 stuff but

14:27 you can get them used to it then you can

14:30 walk up right behind them

14:32 and just take blood straight out of the

14:33 pail or get medicine like in detail and

14:37 you don't have to catch it you're being

14:42 super active today I'm sorry I don't

14:43 have any treats for you pretty much

14:53 training in general is just

14:56 communication it's just the clearer you

14:59 can get the communication the faster

15:01 they're gonna catch on and know what

15:03 you're talking about

15:03 and then you don't have any confusion

15:05 between commands and they also know that

15:07 there's gonna be some kind of benefit or

15:10 reinforcement so back to the veterinary

15:13 stuff you know we like to go to we don't

15:16 want to go to the doctor and say doctor

15:18 I'm sick and get tackled by like three

15:19 people and tied down to a table we like

15:22 the idea of going maybe I have to get a

15:23 shot but either way I'm leaving with a

15:25 lollipop and i still bring lollipops to

15:28 the doctor with me because I like that

15:30 lollipop but what we try to do with the

15:32 animals is create that same type of

15:34 thing so you take that stress part and

15:37 just get rid of it completely or at

15:40 least minimize it quite a bit you know

15:42 it probably it still doesn't feel good

15:44 to get a shot or to get blood taken but

15:48 if you don't have to catch them and hold

15:50 them down and force them into it then

15:52 it's way less stressful and it makes fix

15:57 everything better in the long run so so

15:59 that's kind of why we do that touching

16:00 on the tail thing but you can also kind

16:01 of see if I'm standing around

16:04 and I'm doing all this type of stuff

16:06 even though the behaviors that were

16:08 training and conditioning are functional

16:10 for you know lots of different reasons

16:14 you know you can still uh like show

16:16 voted up make some kind of show or

16:19 something and can be silly and goofy but

16:36 stay butterfly land right on trappers

16:37 head and here's the pricing for

16:46 admission adults $10 kids under 12 five

16:49 or you could go with the adventure pass

16:51 seventeen dollars which includes feeding

16:54 the tortoises and holding an alligator

16:57 pretty cool open every day from 9 a.m.

17:00 to 2 p.m.

17:01 except for Mondays close they have a

17:03 website smooth waters wildlife calm and

17:06 they're on social media Facebook and

17:08 Instagram located at 4500 Reed Street

17:11 and deleon springs florida close to

17:15 Daytona pretty close to Daytona Beach a

17:16 hop skip and a jump from Daytona

17:32 alligators and crocodiles crocodiles and

17:32 smiles that's gonna do it for today's

17:34 adventure if you're in the area stop by

17:37 and if you do so please remember to keep

17:40 the speed limit under five miles per

17:43 hour in fact there are bullet holes in

17:45 that side watch your speed I'll see you

17:49 in the next video vlog

Inside Gator Enclosures at Smooth Waters Wildlife Park

Transcript