How do zookeepers clean out Komodo dragon enclosures?

Question

without being attacked. I imagine it's pretty impossible to lure a komodo dragon away to a secure area and they don't eat very often, so you couldn't tempt them with food often enough to clean the enclosure. How do they do it????? (apart from "very carefully" :)

Answer 1

Usually enclosures are set up with the area that the people get to see the animal in and an area in back that the animal can go into. These two areas have doors to seperate them. When the animal is in one area they block of the access tunnel (run). Most likely they will still go in, in pairs. They will clean that area then get the animal to shift to the area just cleaned block off the run again and clean the second area. To get the animal to shift there are multiple things you can do, some animals are trained to shift when they hear a certain sound, some do it for treats. Of course sometimes the animals just will not shift and you have to wait for it to move on its own. This is a general idea how it is done, each zoo has their own set up and their procedures will vary some.

Answer 2

Most will lure it into a separate smaller enclosure off of the main enclosure. However, I've seen and heard of some that were very used to human contact and would just stay there like nothing was going on. Just like their close relatives, the Asian water monitor, they do have the ability to become used to people and almost seem tame. I have a five and a half foot Nile monitor that is the opposite. It'll charge me everytime I open the enclosure and I have to keep a pole in my hand to push it back if it runs at me. It's very alert and watches everything I do and will come at me thinking I have food, so I can never take my eyes off of it while I'm cleaning. Mean sucker!

Answer 3

i watched a program the other day on a zoo that kept komodo dragons, what they do is go in the enclosure in fours, two people have big boards which they use as a barrier to keep the komodo's away from the person or they put them inside so they are free to clean with out either upsetting the dragons or getting hurt, hope this helps best of luck

Answer 4

I'm truly un`sure !?! But if I was to take a GUESS.. It would be: That they might close off a section of whichever encloser if any they might be kept in.. sort of like make it a path way to another part of something behind glass or another cage while they clean it!?! & then let it back in after placing fresh food-stuffs in some sort of dish for them I guess !?! INTERESTING question !!.rRr.,.

Answer 5

They have a little Steve Irwin puppet. Those dragons go after it every time.

Answer 6

They would have to be enclosed because of the danger. At the Atlanta Zoo, a baby Komodo dragon ripped open a handler's finger. They named it "Slash" because of this.

Answer 7

very VERY carefully :]