Alligator Alley

After I told Rob I found a place to see alligators, it has been all he has been able to talk about!  Living in Florida, I feel like seeing the alligators is a necessity (even though technically we had to drive to Alabama to see them!)  Luckily, Rob's schedule is pretty easy right now so we took advantage of the humid pretty weather and drove out to Alligator Alley.

I read online that some people got to hold a baby alligator.  Once I read that, I was obsessed with holding one.  This one that we were able to hold was three years old.  I can't believe that these tiny guys grow up to be the huge 12 foot alligators we saw during the feeding show!

Alligator Alley has over 450 alligators of all different ages and sizes.  They are all nuisance alligators--which means they have lost their natural fear of humans.  These are the ones that show up in your swimming pool or eat your puppy (no seriously, a lot of the big ones here were caught after owners called saying an alligator ate their pets!)  Think Swamp People alligators!



Captain Crunch is their claim to fame alligator.  He is 13 feet long and almost 800 pounds!  He hold the world record for bite power.  Captain crunch was pretty calm while we were around, although Rob kept trying to "accidentally" hit him while throwing his food.




The feeding show was the best part of the trip!  Three times a day you can watch the feeding crew feed the alligators.  Around 25 HUGE alligators came out of the water for the feeding and it was insane to watch how comfortable the crew was up close with the alligators.  He could even recognize them and call them by name.  While I loved seeing them up close, I was definitely glad to be on the other side of the fence!






The trainer was sweet enough to offer to take my camera and snap a few close ups of some big guys.  Look at the size of that mouth!