New addition - American Alligator

[Herpophiliac972]

Originally Posted by infernalis

I know they are intelligent, do you think there will come a time when you can trust him(her?) without the tape on it's snout?

I have heard that in theory that you can "tame" an alligator, but I am not so sure. Those things could take a chunk out of you, you are playing with fire after a certain point. As with all herps, you have to remember that whether this was born wild or not, it still has the wild instinct. Alligators have hair triggers, and they are not something you want to mess with if you don't know what you are doing. There is a reason you see traveling reptile shows for kids with only young, not ten foot long monsters. I may one day consider one of these (if I have space), but personally I think that trying to tame it is a bad idea. If there is someone with more experience than I out there that would like to challenge that, please speak up. After all, what good is being wrong if you don't learn anything?

[SikSol]

Originally Posted by MM1

How's the gator doing? Living in NYC I will clearly never have one but I always try to see some wild ones when I visit the in laws in South Florida. One of my favorite creatures.

Doing great!! Has re-grown almost a full set of teeth, looks healthy and tons of energy! I'll post pics or a vid soon.

Originally Posted by Herpophiliac972

I have heard that in theory that you can "tame" an alligator, but I am not so sure. Those things could take a chunk out of you, you are playing with fire after a certain point. As with all herps, you have to remember that whether this was born wild or not, it still has the wild instinct. Alligators have hair triggers, and they are not something you want to mess with if you don't know what you are doing. There is a reason you see traveling reptile shows for kids with only young, not ten foot long monsters. I may one day consider one of these (if I have space), but personally I think that trying to tame it is a bad idea. If there is someone with more experience than I out there that would like to challenge that, please speak up. After all, what good is being wrong if you don't learn anything?

They are extremely intelligent compared to most other reptiles from my experience. This also adds to their danger though. With that intelligence it does make them trainable. I have seen plenty of examples of well trained alligators and have easily trained mine to do what I wan't for feedings. However I don't think one should mistake training for "taming".

Even at smaller sizes these animals can cause serious damage so I would never trust one. A good healthy gator is a dangerous gator, especially a territorial male. You can't even stick a limb over mine's retaining wall without him running over wanting to tear it off. He starts hissing soon as you open the door. That is exactly what I want and expect though, it doesn't mean that he is some evil aggressive animal. It just means that he is naturally defensive and is healthy and has the energy to be that way instead of lethargic like you see a lot of captive gators.

[Pirarucu]

Originally Posted by SikSol

Doing great!! Has re-grown almost a full set of teeth, looks healthy and tons of energy! I'll post pics or a vid soon.



They are extremely intelligent compared to most other reptiles from my experience. This also adds to their danger though. With that intelligence it does make them trainable. I have seen plenty of examples of well trained alligators and have easily trained mine to do what I wan't for feedings. However I don't think one should mistake training for "taming".

Even at smaller sizes these animals can cause serious damage so I would never trust one. A good healthy gator is a dangerous gator, especially a territorial male or a nesting female. You can't even stick a limb over mine's retaining wall without him running over wanting to tear it off. He starts hissing soon as you open the door. That is exactly what I want and expect though, it doesn't mean that he is some evil aggressive animal. It just means that he is naturally defensive and is healthy and has the energy to be that way instead of lethargic like you see a lot of captive gators.

Fixed it. Great to see someone who actually knows what they are doing keeping gators. Keep us updated!