‘Swamp Brothers’ co-star donates alligators to West Michigan wildlife park

EnlargeChris Clark | chrisclark@mlive.com Big Boy, a 14-foot American Alligator at Boulder Ridge Wild Animal Park Tuesday, May 15, 2012. (Chris Clark | Mlive.com) Big alligators are new draw for wild animal park gallery (13 photos)

ALTO, MI — The swamp at Boulder Ridge Wild Animal Park is teeming with more life after the recent addition of two new alligators donated by one of the co-stars of the hit Discovery Channel show “Swamp Brothers.”

About two weeks ago, park director Rick “The Reptile Guy” DeRidder added two American alligators to the park’s collection — Big Boy, a 14-foot, 1,000 pound male, and Stephanie, a 10-foot, 600 pound female.

The alligators were donated by Robbie Keszey, co-star of the Discovery Channel hit “Swamp Brothers.” Keszey said he’s had the gators for the past 15 years at his Florida farm, and they were there long before he opened it. When he got a call from DeRidder a few weeks ago looking for some big, new alligators to add to the park, Keszey said he was happy to help and thought Big Boy and his girlfriend would impress the park’s spectators.

“It’s a great chance for people to see big ones up there,” he said. “It will help gets tourists in there — that’s what I’m all about is teaching people.”

To get all the way to Michigan, DeRidder said the gators were caught and put in an insulated horse trailer for the trip. Big Boy has been shy so far, ducking under the water for most of the time visitors are around, but DeRitter said he believes Stephanie will be laying 30-40 eggs by the end of June, which he plans to incubate and raise.

“I’ll be the first person to breed the American alligator in captivity in Michigan,” DeRidder said.

Keszey said he doesn’t know of anyone else who has bred the American alligator as far North as the Boulder Ridge park and the animals are typically safe to keep in captivity as long as precautions are taken.

“It’s safe as long as the zoo’s having pretty good protocol in line there,” he said. “They’re good with their animals there.”

Owned by Dawn and Dave Hoekstra, Boulder Ridge opened in Alto in July 2011 and is home to dozens species of animals in its 80 acres, including ostriches, zebras and two 1-ton water buffaloes named Walter and Richard. Last year, the park had 15,000 visitors within three months and park spokesman Gary Wade said staff hopes to bring that number closer to 60,000 this season.

“It’s really like an African safari, being able to see everything from bison to wildebeests to cranes,” he said. “A lot of the reptiles are a big hit, but it’s really just the exotic flavor of the park overall.”

Besides the two gators, the reptile shack at Boulder Ridge also recently has gained an 18-foot Burmese python donated from a woman in Ann Arbor. DeRidder said the python is one of the largest species of snakes in the world and could easily kill someone if it wanted to, although he doesn’t have any reason to fear him.

“They’re like people,” he said with the snake wrapped around his arms. “This one doesn’t have an aggressive bone in its body.”

The park also added a petting zoo this year and plans to open exhibits with kangaroo, wallaby and binturong, an Asian bearcat, once the weather is warm enough for them to stay outside, DeRidder said. In the future, he said the staff has goals to add a giraffe barn, a facility to swim with the alligators and exhibits with saltwater crocodile and rhino, among other animals.

Katie McCabe, of Grand Rapids, visited the park Tuesday afternoon for the first time with her 3-year-old Xander, who stood up against the fence of the zebra exhibit to watch the herd roam inside.

“They have lots of animals that they don’t have at the zoo,” McCabe said. “You get so much more up close and personal.”

Dave Hoekstra said he bred animals for more than 25 years before opening the park last year and is no stranger to the exotic species. Many of the animals have to get used to the Michigan weather and don’t breed right away, but Hoesktra said all the park’s species besides the black wildebeest have had offspring, which then are sold to zoos around the U.S. and Canada.

When Stephanie lays her eggs next month, DeRidder said he’ll be calling in the help of some other reptile experts to make sure the mother doesn’t charge him too aggressively as he goes to collect the eggs from her nest. He expects she will lay 30-40 eggs, which he’ll have to collect within six hours to ensure the embryos inside don’t drown during handling as he transfers them to an incubator.

“They all will hatch,” he said. “In the wild, some would be eaten (by predators).”

Although DeRidder’s passion is for reptiles, he said he’s excited to see the park grow as a whole and there hasn’t been a dull moment so far.

“It never slows down,” he said. “We have babies (born) in the middle of winter.”

Boulder Ridge Wild Animal Park is located at 8313 Pratt Lake SE in Alto. The park is open through the end October and admission is $8.