The Gator Farm

Kansas farmers raise cattle and swine and sell the animals to packing plants for a profit. Some farmers make a living solely from raising these animals. Delicious bacon and the best porterhouse steaks come from those animals. Actually, most of the meat we eat in Kansas comes from a cow, chicken or pig, right?

Louisiana is a bit different. Big surprise! I have only seen two grazing cattle in Louisiana. I saw them on the way to Baton Rouge through the swamp trees in a VERY small meadow munching on some grass. I wondered how in the world the cows survived the huge gators that live around here!?

Louisiana doesn't need to raise cattle and pigs, I guess. The "farmers" here raise what is native to the area, alligators and turtles!

We made our first gator farm visit while Travis's family was here. What an interesting experience that was! The Kliebert family of Ponchatoula owns and runs the gator farm, and they offer tours and a gift shop full of alligator and turtle skulls, teeth and bones and anything else alligator or turtle.

We knew we were in for a treat the minute our tour guide started talking. She had "the" accent. We had to get in closely to see her and tune our ears to hear and understand.

The turtles are what we saw first. Thousands of turtles were all living together in two separate ponds. The turtles are plucked out of the pond live and air shipped (live and in a crate) over to China and other Eastern countries for fool. Turtle farmers can't sell turtles for food here in the U.S. because they contain too much e. coli bacteria for the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture to deem safe to eat. She did say there was a stray alligator in one of the ponds. We asked why the turtles didn't get eaten by that alligator. She said they did, and that the turtle pond gator was too fast for them to catch, so they just let it be!

Alligators were next on the agenda. The first pond had smallish alligators, probably only up to about 5 feet long. They looked harmless enough. Oh, keep in mind, we were on the other side of the fence.

Our tour guide gave us specific instructions on the next leg of the tour. She explained that the females lay their eggs near the fence and are very protective of their nests. She said one would (for certain) come up and bang against the fence, because a raccoon had just destroyed some of her eggs. She also instructed us to walk on the far left side of the trail and NOT to put our fingers in or over the fence.

We saw our first big gator and knew exactly why we needed to stay back. They are BIG and SCARY! We saw one alligator that was 16 ft. long! I can't describe how intimidating they look. I wouldn't want to meet one out in the wild, and my kids won't be playing near the river anytime soon. The largest alligator on record was 19'2" long, and was found in Vermilion Parish, Louisiana. That alligator, stretched out, was as tall as a giraffe!

The farmers take the young alligators out of the pen with their mothers and other big gators soon after they are born so the big gators won't eat or harm the babies. I'm not really sure which ones they sell for food, but I know some are. Alligator is on the menu several places here in Louisiana.

Alligators hiss to warn predators to stay back. Their babies make this grunting sound to alert mom when they're in danger. The tour guide told us that if we ever heard that sound we should run. Oh, but I don't think anyone could outrun one anyway, because they are fast, too. People have been eaten by alligators by swimming in alligator infested waters and by standing too close to the side of the river/lake. How comforting.

We all had a greater respect for alligators after the tour, I think. Scott purchased an alligator skull as a souvenir. We went home eager to take a closer look at our own river nearby next time we drove by!