Jabba the Hungry

 In zoos and aquariums, turtles and crocodilians go together like peanut butter and jelly, often sharing exhibits.  The hard-shelled reptiles are some of the few animals that crocodiles and alligators can usually be housed with without risk of being eaten.  I've seen several peaceable living arrangements from over the years, such as alligator snapping turtle with American alligator and painted terrapin with gharial.  Not all of these arrangements are peaceable, however - and trouble doesn't always come from the quarter you'd expect it.

I'm specifically remembering one crocodile exhibit that I took care of, which was home to a pair of crocodiles in the 9-10 foot range, a dozen or so African mud turtles, and a school of colorful cichlid fish, all living together harmoniously.  The harmony was shattered the day that we introduced a new resident to the mix - a Nile softshell turtle who we'll call "Jabba."

Jabba was enormous, approaching four feet across the shell and looking like an enormous green, rubbery pancake with feet and a head.  She had been recently been donated to our zoo, having spent years as a private pet before ballooning to her current size and appetite, both of which her owner found to be unmanageable. 

I got to test Jabba's size myself shortly after her arrival at the zoo.  After clearing her mandatory quarantine in the Zoo Hospital, Jabba was being carried to her new exhibit  in a bathtub carried by another keeper and myself.   The last step to getting her into the exhibit was to carry her up the rickety wooden stairs that led to the service door - I, foolishly, offered to go first.  About half way up, Jabba decided that she wanted out.  The next thing that I knew, I had an enormous turtle climbing onto my shoulder, clawed feet scrambling to find a foothold in my back.  Not finding any, she began to try and make some, with painful success.  Her weight was almost unbearable as it throbbed up and down my spine, while my colleague in the rear, unable to do anything for fear of dropping the tub, did what I would have probably done in the same situation.  He froze - and then laughed.

When we finally got Jabba settled into the crocodile exhibit, it took her little time to establish her dominance.  She had no fear of her larger exhibit mates.  If anything, they came to fear her.  Driven by an overwhelming hunger, she let nothing stand between her stomach and that which could fill it.  The crocodile feedings soon became much more daunting, and through no fault of the crocodiles.  Jabba would belligerently charge into their midst and take what she considered her due, regardless of our having fed her before.  Things could get dicey.

On one occasion that I fed them early on in Jabba's residence, the male crocodile swam up to the shoreline and opened his jaws, patiently waiting for a rat to be deposited as was his custom.  Suddenly, there was a flash of bluish-green, as Jabba rammed her flabby neck into his open jaws and snatched the skinned rodent from his very mouth.  Crocodilians are thought to have quite a poker face, being fairly fixed of facial features.  Nevertheless, in that moment I swear that I saw shock, disgust, and outrage in equal parts on the face of the male crocodile.  This was to be typical of Jabba's feeding frenzies.

The turtle was almost suicidal in her hunger.  The situation could very well have ended life right then and there, had the horrified croc decided to chomp down anyway.  I certainly wouldn’t have blamed him.  The tiny nicks that would eventually appear periodically along Jabba's soft shell indicated that the crocs weren’t always so tolerant.

Unfortunately, Jabba's appetites weren't satisfied by fish and rodents.  When the female crocodile began to build a nest and lay eggs, it took Jabba very little time to plow into the mound of vegetation and start feasting on the eggs.  That was the last straw.  She was promptly placed on the surplus list and banished to another zoo.  She lived out her life happily there, perhaps achieving something close to a sated appetite.  I must say, I'm pretty sure our crocodiles were much happier too.