Meet the CROCODILE KING who lives with three rescued crocs
Meet the fearless 'Crocodile King' who lives with three rescue crocs and 24 other animals in Texas.Will Sherrer lives on a quarter of an acre of land in Spring, Texas with his girlfriend, their newborn baby, three crocodiles, three snakes, four giant lizards, six cats, four dogs, five ferrets, two domestic rats and a pond full of fish. "We've got our hands full for sure," said Will, 33, who has been working with animals for the last 18 years. "I'm a wildlife biologist so I help rehabilitate wild animals that have been injured or orphaned until they are ready to be released. "We also take in exotic animals that people have bought as pets and cannot handle anymore. "All my exotic animals were adopted as rescues, a lot of people think they can handle a baby crocodile or snake etc as a pet, but then they grow up and become extremely dangerous. "So I end up taking some of them home with me."We are planning to move to a new home with over two acres, to give us some more space." Will estimates that he spends around $500 a month feeding his bizarre menagerie, but the veterinary bills are far more expensive. "There's no telling how much money I spend on vets bills, last year it probably amounted to over $10,000," he said. "Ferrets can be super expensive, even a standard surgery on them can cost $5,000." Nearly all his spare time is taken up with caring for the animals, cleaning out their enclosures and even playing with them. "I really love these animals, it's a lot of work and sometimes I think: 'Why have I got so many?'
But really I wouldn't know what to do without them.
I can't imagine my life without them."Rufio the croc is my favorite.
Rufio loves me, he will let me pick him up and I can socialize with him. "My other favorite is one of the cats, she's so old and fat, we call her Fat Fat." Unsurprisingly interacting with crocodiles, giant monitor lizards and constrictor snakes is dangerous - even for an expert like Will. In 2015 he was giving a demonstration at a Texas crawfish festival when a nine foot alligator bit his arm - ripping out part of his bicep muscle and tearing some of his tendons. "It grabbed me by the arm and threw me over him, thankfully he didn't do the death roll and rip my whole arm off," recalled Will. "He let me off easy, but I had to go to hospital, he tore out part of bicep and messed up some of the tendons in my arm. "Now, when people tag me in videos of people getting bitten by alligators I find it hard to watch, it still gives me a funny feeling in my stomach." "That accident happened because it's better if the area is clear when you're dealing with alligators, but the crowd was too close and there were some guys on a raised platform who were jeering and making a lot of noise.
I think the gator got spooked."Over the years I've been bitten by pretty much every animal, but never too badly apart from that one time.
Usually it's just a nip or scratch. "The most dangerous animal I have at the moment is probably my Asian water monitor, they're the second largest species of lizard in the world. "Mine is about 4.5 feet long, his nickname is Bane because he's a little bit testy. "He's friendly when he's outside but inside the enclosure he doesn't want to be messed with. "If Bane bit you he could sever some arteries, they have very powerful beaks. "I've seen some very bad bites from them, they don't like to let go, the more you move the more they squeeze you. "I'd much rather get bitten by a croc because they're not going to hold onto you. In his giant lizard collection Will also has Nine monitor named Bethrow. "He's about two and a half feet long, he's called Bethrow which rhymes with death row.
We nicknamed him that because he he's tough to deal with, like inmates on death row I'd imagine. "I also have a Colombian tegu called Desmond, he is more gentle, and we have an iguana named Arthur, she's actually a girl." Will's largest beasts are the crocodiles - two of the caiman variety at six feet and five feet long, and one Ecuadorian. "My Ecuadorian croc is three feet long now, but he'll probably grow up to around nine feet long eventually. "They live a long time and grown quite slowly.
It could take 25 years to get to that full length, they can live well over 50 years, alligators can live over 100 years old." Three months ago Will and his girlfriend Liz, 25, welcomed their first child together, a baby boy named Wylder. "Now we have a baby I'm not taking in any more animals, at least not until my son is in school and we're living on a larger piece of land."When Liz and I met four years ago I only had one ferret and she had one pet dog.
We've built up this collection of rescues together, we take care of them together and they're all part of our family."My parents aren't super crazy about it, they only really like the cats and dogs, when they come out to visit they stay in a hotel!"
Meet the fearless 'Crocodile King' who lives with three rescue crocs and 24 other animals in Texas.Will Sherrer lives on a quarter of an acre of land in Spring, Texas with his girlfriend, their newborn baby, three crocodiles, three snakes, four giant lizards, six cats, four dogs, five ferrets, two domestic rats and a pond full of fish.
"We've got our hands full for sure," said Will, 33, who has been working with animals for the last 18 years.
"I'm a wildlife biologist so I help rehabilitate wild animals that have been injured or orphaned until they are ready to be released.
"We also take in exotic animals that people have bought as pets and cannot handle anymore.
"All my exotic animals were adopted as rescues, a lot of people think they can handle a baby crocodile or snake etc as a pet, but then they grow up and become extremely dangerous.
"So I end up taking some of them home with me."We are planning to move to a new home with over two acres, to give us some more space." Will estimates that he spends around $500 a month feeding his bizarre menagerie, but the veterinary bills are far more expensive.
"There's no telling how much money I spend on vets bills, last year it probably amounted to over $10,000," he said.
"Ferrets can be super expensive, even a standard surgery on them can cost $5,000." Nearly all his spare time is taken up with caring for the animals, cleaning out their enclosures and even playing with them.
"I really love these animals, it's a lot of work and sometimes I think: 'Why have I got so many?'
But really I wouldn't know what to do without them.
I can't imagine my life without them."Rufio the croc is my favorite.
Rufio loves me, he will let me pick him up and I can socialize with him.
"My other favorite is one of the cats, she's so old and fat, we call her Fat Fat." Unsurprisingly interacting with crocodiles, giant monitor lizards and constrictor snakes is dangerous - even for an expert like Will.
In 2015 he was giving a demonstration at a Texas crawfish festival when a nine foot alligator bit his arm - ripping out part of his bicep muscle and tearing some of his tendons.
"It grabbed me by the arm and threw me over him, thankfully he didn't do the death roll and rip my whole arm off," recalled Will.
"He let me off easy, but I had to go to hospital, he tore out part of bicep and messed up some of the tendons in my arm.
"Now, when people tag me in videos of people getting bitten by alligators I find it hard to watch, it still gives me a funny feeling in my stomach." "That accident happened because it's better if the area is clear when you're dealing with alligators, but the crowd was too close and there were some guys on a raised platform who were jeering and making a lot of noise.
I think the gator got spooked."Over the years I've been bitten by pretty much every animal, but never too badly apart from that one time.
Usually it's just a nip or scratch.
"The most dangerous animal I have at the moment is probably my Asian water monitor, they're the second largest species of lizard in the world.
"Mine is about 4.5 feet long, his nickname is Bane because he's a little bit testy.
"He's friendly when he's outside but inside the enclosure he doesn't want to be messed with.
"If Bane bit you he could sever some arteries, they have very powerful beaks.
"I've seen some very bad bites from them, they don't like to let go, the more you move the more they squeeze you.
"I'd much rather get bitten by a croc because they're not going to hold onto you.
In his giant lizard collection Will also has Nine monitor named Bethrow.
"He's about two and a half feet long, he's called Bethrow which rhymes with death row.
We nicknamed him that because he he's tough to deal with, like inmates on death row I'd imagine.
"I also have a Colombian tegu called Desmond, he is more gentle, and we have an iguana named Arthur, she's actually a girl." Will's largest beasts are the crocodiles - two of the caiman variety at six feet and five feet long, and one Ecuadorian.
"My Ecuadorian croc is three feet long now, but he'll probably grow up to around nine feet long eventually.
"They live a long time and grown quite slowly.
It could take 25 years to get to that full length, they can live well over 50 years, alligators can live over 100 years old." Three months ago Will and his girlfriend Liz, 25, welcomed their first child together, a baby boy named Wylder.
"Now we have a baby I'm not taking in any more animals, at least not until my son is in school and we're living on a larger piece of land."When Liz and I met four years ago I only had one ferret and she had one pet dog.
We've built up this collection of rescues together, we take care of them together and they're all part of our family."My parents aren't super crazy about it, they only really like the cats and dogs, when they come out to visit they stay in a hotel!"
