Louis Greeff, [20 Mar 2025 at 19:55:13]: Good evening. Yesterday I had to deal with a crocodile. He was 3.5m long and walked away from his dam - we found him in thick sickle bush and could not catch him with ropes as we usually do. He was not approachable because of the denseness of the bush, so I had to immobilize him. I used 4 mg medetomidine (1/50kg) 8 mg butorphanol (1/25kg) and 250 mg ketamine. I darted him with 1.5-inch needle in hindleg. After 15 min he was out but breathing fine. We strapped him and loaded him, took him back to his dam and there I woke him up with 4ml yohimbine/atipamezole mixture and 25mg naltrexone i.m. He was up and about in 5 min. All that I know that is used to immobilize them is gallamine, but I have never used it. Did anyone else immobilized them before and what did you use? HO Reuter, [20 Mar 2025 at 22:13:46]: Hi Louis, My crocodile immobilisation is limited to 2 darted in 2019, during drought when dams dried up. This is what I used at the time: We managed to get 2 of the crocodiles yesterday afternoon. The first was estimated 3.5 m long. I used 20 mg medetomidine and 300 mg Zoletil in a 2 ml, 13G, 2.5” Pneudart in the base of tail. The crocodile ended up being 3.3 m long, estimated 175 kg and was well immobilized. Corneal reflex was good and breathing slow, but regular. The 2nd crocodile was quite a bit bigger. I gave 20 mg medetomidine plus 350 mg Zoletil. 12 minutes after darting, he still reacted by vigorous jaw snapping at being poked by a long steam pipe. I added a second dart with 12 mg medetomidine and 180 mg Zoletil to achieve good anaesthesia. Corneal reflex remained good, but breathing was very slow and shallow (<1 breath / minute). We needed to use a winch to drag this 4.18 m long, (estimated >350 kg), crocodile onto the Cruiser. Both crocodiles were given yohimbine 6.25 mg/ml at 1ml/ 50 kg (I had no atipamezole stock left). Recovery was slow, but there was a gradual increase in response to poking/ prodding over 3 hours. From this limited experience a dose of 0.1 mg / kg medetomidine plus 1.5-2 mg/kg Zoletil gives good immobilisation / anaesthesia in large crocodiles, but I would prefer better breathing and quicker recovery. Your mix / especially recovery sounds a lot better than the medetomidine / Zoletil combination I had used, Louis! Thanks for sharing. Louis Greeff, [20 Mar 2025 at 22:27:47]: Thank you, HO....THIS WAY WE ALL LEARN Willem Burger, [21 Mar 2025 at 22:55:11]: Pioneer Louis!!!!
