Rensselaer Union, Volume 6, Number 38, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 June 1874 — Alligators as Pets. [ARTICLE]

Alligators as Pets.

The New York Times has an article on household pets, in which it playfully and somewhat sarcastically suggests pet alligators as a variety for the house. Now, absurd as the alligator may seem for a pet, it so happens that we once had some of them, and very pleasant little pets they proved to be. It was during a residence, some years ago, in a Southern city, not far from the bayous, where alligators, great and small, are to be had by the hundred thousand. Instead of going in person to catch the little fellows, we secured the services of an aged American citizen of African descent, who knew more than we did about keeping out of the way of the parent alligators. He scooped up a dozen or two baby ’gators and brought them in, his face ornamented with a broad grin of delight in anticipation of the dollar he had been promised for catching them. For several months a number of these lively little fellows occupied a neat aquarium tank in the library window, where the sun shone on them. They were as lively as little cats, and quite as playful. Equally happy in the water and out of it, hey would frisk about like so many monkeys when they felt so disposed, and when they felt lazy (for alligators, like other folks, are subject to attacks of laziness) they would stretch themselves out, or lie in a heap, one on the other, and bask in the sunshine. They had a habit of eating almost any eatable thing that waa given to them, their principal luxury being live flies. In catching these insects they exhibited great dexterity. Large beetle cockroaches also afforded them muctfcpleasure. There was an abundance of these in the house and the alligators considerably reduced the stock. These alligators were in their first summer, and were only a few inches long. They would run over people’s hands and clothes, and climb upon shoulders with great liveliness. We gave some of them away, and the rest, probably pampered by petting and overfeeding, died. We once owned an alligator which was six feet long. But he frightened an old lady out of her wits, and so We gave him away. He was too large for a pet. But in their first or second year ’gators are pleasant pets and no more dangerous than kittens.— Christian at Work.