Steamy scenes of snout rubbing and bubble blowing were late to appear in the crocodile enclosures at Billabong Sanctuary this summer due to a delayed North Queensland wet season.
But with the rain came the long-anticipated courtships that let park staff know that breeding was well underway.
"With the later nesting season, you can attribute that directly to the later wet season here in Townsville," ranger Alex Mackay said.
"In the past, if it has been an especially dry year, we've actually played thunderstorm sounds and rain tracks over the PA systems.
"We've even turned the sprinklers on to encourage the crocodiles to have some cuddles.
Getting laid
But there was no need to simulate a romantic atmosphere this year and dozens of eggs have been collected since the wet weather arrived.
Mr Mackay said he had to wait for a break in the rain before harvesting the eggs from the nests of dirt, leaf litter and bark, which female crocodiles guard aggressively.
"Slippery mud and fast crocodiles are not much fun," he said.
"Crocodile mums are very good mums — they are very protective and will charge down anything that gets anywhere near their nest.
"Typically, that just means we have extra staff with experience to stand between us and the harvester."
He said staff found the breeding season to be fruitful, collecting dozens of eggs from female estuarine crocodiles Bonza and Belle.
"Our main female, Bonza, laid 67 eggs, which is a big clutch," Mr Mackay said.
Incubation begins
All fertile eggs are kept in an incubator where they are monitored for about 90 days.
The eggs are carefully marked so staff can keep them in the position they were in when they were laid.
"When we dig the nest up we gently excavate the top layer to get an idea of the eggs, and as we remove the eggs we just put graphite pencil marks on the top," Mr Mackay said.
Inside the incubator, eggs are kept at a comfortable 30 degrees Celsius to increase the chance of the hatchlings being males, which mature faster and are more desirable to crocodile farms.
"We'll keep a handful of the individuals for ourselves for handling and education," Mr Mackay said.
"Other zoos or institutions may reach out to us or we can express that we have spare crocodiles to go around."
Breaking free
Staff can tell which eggs remain fertile inside the incubator by observing the opacity of their shells over time.
"For the first 24 hours the eggshell itself is quite translucent," Mr Mackay said.
"Once you remove them and put them in an incubation period, you'll see calcium start to build in the egg, which looks like a band across the midsection of the eggs.
"That will slowly spread and eventually encompass the whole egg."
Mr Mackay said the staff expected the baby crocodiles would herald their imminent arrival around March.
"You will see the eggs jiggle and hear the light croaking of the crocodile babies.
'Soul mates' sit out season
Billabong Sanctuary's largest attraction, a five-metre, 800-kilogram estuarine crocodile called Krakatoa, did not breed with his new partner Madonna this season.
It took a dozen people to move Krakatoa into the park in October with his apparent "soul mate".
Krakatoa mourned for eight months after his former partner died.
Rangers said Krakatoa and Madonna were settling into their new enclosure well, showed no signs of stress, and were likely to breed next season.
