Earlier today I had an unofficial interview with Matt D C a member here at Herp Center, who owns an alligator named Commodus, and I thought I would share with everyone. Note that this started out as a regular conversation and that I hadnt planned any of my questions before hand and alot of key points were missed. Maybe Matt will be kind enough to let me have a second go at it! . Anyways to the interview.(The interview has been edited to cut out useless chat and for practical uses and I have Matt's permission to do so.)

Me: isnt it too cold for a gator in philly?

Matt: yeah

Me:i was just curious what you plan on doing for him once he is bigger?

Matt: lol the million dollar question

Me: i remember you saying something about converting your garage or something

Matt: yeah, it's a huge 3 car garage. i think it's like 35x50 or something

Me: how would you do that? keeping it warm? descent sized swimming area?

Matt: basically yeah, an external pump to circulate water with a seperate heater for the water, basically the water would pass through a heater than get pumped out into the water. i have a similar set up for my 75G fish tank
custom made of course lol

Me: is that what you keep him in currently?

Matt: yeah

Me: does that allow for him to have enough room for moving around in?

Matt: yeah- it's really long and widen not quite exactly the space he needs
but enough for the winter.... at least this year it is

Me: how fast does he grow?

Matt: yeah- he's only about 18" now depends on the temp, and feeding schedule but on average about 1 5/8" a month

Me: thats it? the pictures make him look bigger

Matt: yeah they do, lol, to help witht he cost of 'renovating' the garage I applied for some grants from the state

Me: grants?

Matt: yeah, the state would pay for his housing and my research needs if they approved of the typ of research

Me: o... thats kewl

Matt: yeah man lol especially cause there is no research done on gators in this area I would be 'famous' in a manner of speaking lol

Me: what exactly would you research about them that you couldnt already find out from others I mean that sounds ignorant I know but I mean what would you be looking for

Matt: problem solving and logic, along with intelligence through age- and behaivorial patterns as they age there's no research done in problem solving and logic, only behaivor

Me: hmmm

Matt: what I said in my proposal was 'understand how they access certain situations would better our knowledge of how to react to those

Me: you think you will get it?

Matt: honestly- i think so

Me: i dont see why you wouldn't but others might see the danger risks and liabilities

Matt: very true but I addressed that int he proposal as well at 8 months old he already obeys certain commands

Me: like what?

Matt: 'stay' and 'stop' 2 very important ones

Me: yes, i'd say

Matt: when I say 'stop' he immiediately stops and when I say 'stay' he doesn't move from his position- no matter where I walk. i did a small demonstration at HC day

Me: thats great! how do you accomplish that? treats? a stern voice?

Matt: mostly a stern voice, and hours and hours AND hours of work lol. treats would allow him to associate me with food making it too dangerous

Me: how do you go about feeding him?

Matt: i have trained when he sees a certain object- he knows it's time to eat
i use a plain brown bag- i shake it 3 times in front of him, as soon as he sees it being shaked the third time- he knows it's dinner time. once he knows it's time to eat, i feed him 1 mouse via a very large pair of tweezers that allows me to put the rest of them in his enclosure without worry of him accidentally biting me

Me: how many do you feed him and how large?

Matt: 4 and usually fuzzy size- so they are just under 5 weeks old
though he could eat a full grown one easily

Me: feeding him several small ones probably makes it more exicting on him too

Matt: yeas it does, it allows him to 'realize' that I am his primary care taker as well and not that the mice are just showing up outta no where. everyone at HC day was impressed with how 'behaived' he was- not realizing that I put at least 3 hours every day for 7 months worth of work into it. very time consuming- but well worth it I think considering the results

Me: yea, does he play?

Matt: sorta lol sometimes I play 'tug-of-war' with him

Me: lol like with a dog and a sock

Matt: sorta yeah lol but his favorite game is 'stalk the animal and kill it'

namrpuS6891: lol is he ever aggressive?

Matt: always and he's tried to attack my friend on more than a few occasions, just him though, none of my reptiles like him lol

Me: like hunting? or playing wise?

Matt: hunting totally

Me: thats not good lol

Matt: it's (blank)'s fault lol

Me: lol

Matt: (blank) is very loud and commodus doesn't like that. (blank) is also stupid lol, Commodus will warn him first, (blank) thinks that sound is funny- so he'll go closer... i keep telling him that sound won't be funny anymore when he's missing a few fingers

Me: lol

Matt: even though he's still small, he's already almost lethal
he's really quick too- he can run about 15 ft in like 3 seconds


And that concludes my unofficial interview with Matt D C. I felt it was interesting and thought I would share.
Hope you all enjoy it!

__________________
Randy

I plan to live forever... And so far its working

0.2.0 Ball Python (Jaxxie and Kyree)
1.0.0 Savanah Monitor (Sullivan)

LOL Great stuff! Thanks for sharing!

I've been thinking about Matt a lot recently actually - he hasn't been around here much lately (did you ask him about his absence??)

And last time he was on Commodus was quite ill.. i take it he's better now? Great news if he is! I'm in love with that croc! Although he won't be that cute little thing for long!

Hope to see Matt and Commodus back here soon, and it was great to read your "interview"!

__________________
"If you know everything you may as well blow your brains out because the reason for existence is to learn more everyday." - Mark O'Shea, 2004

Good Job!! We could use more of this kind of thing.

__________________
Answers are great. But I prefer questions!

Visit me at www.jaysreptiles.com

Nicely done, I too was wondering about Matt and Commodus, last I saw he was posting about horrible times and then he faded off. Glad that hes still around

I thought you all might find it interesting. No I didn't ask about his absence maybe I wll if I get a chance to talk to him later. He didnt mention anything about Commodus being ill so I assume he is fine.

__________________
Randy

I plan to live forever... And so far its working

0.2.0 Ball Python (Jaxxie and Kyree)
1.0.0 Savanah Monitor (Sullivan)

__________________

Zane Neher.

The great and strong man is one who bears within his character many contradictions.
Crocodilian care.

Hey Zane- I struggled with the question of wether or not to try using treats for quite some time. By saying he would have associated me with food by using treats, I was referring to the after effects of training. To clarify, my theory was this:

I teach him that when he obeys he receives food. Not only does this associate commands with food- it associates me with food- He knows that I give him food when he obeys. What happens if I were to stop giving him food? He would still 'think' that I have food, only I am just not giving it to him. This could lead to aggresive behaivor towards me because he gets frustrated and/or angry. Training him to simply obey without treats could prove the existence of higher intelligence and not simply just conditioning. This, was simply just a theory.

Although his training worked amazingly well at home, unfamiliar environments and situations were a bit harder to get him to comply. An example was at HC day- he didn't stop when commanded, but he did stay a few times (though no where near as long as at home). This was another area of research I wanted to explore- how they assess unfamiliar situations, and how they react to them. I would like to learn [if possible] the thought process involved in this, and if they would obey commands in tense situations.

Anyways, thanks for the support. Tests and such will be postponed for quite some time, but I hope that I will be able to finish the work I had started.

__________________
Chinese Water Dragon: Octavius
Leopard Gecko: Leopatra
Caledonian Crested Gecko: Petri
Coastal Rosy Boa: Rosy (for now lol)
Grey Cockatiel: Wayne

Caledonian Gargoyle Gecko: Unnamed
Malaysian Golden Gecko: Unnamed
Mediterranean Gecko: Unnamed
Frog-eyed Gecko: Unnamed
Green Basilisk: Unnamed

Yeah, yeah... They'll get names eventually...
_____________________________________
Commodus: 10/24