There’s Really a Colorado Alligator Farm?
July 20, 2008
It’s funny that when I mention going to the Alligator farm here in Colorado, even people who have lived here all of their lives look at me like I’m making a joke.
I know, it seems pretty odd, especially if you know the area. Mosca is a arid area of Colorado, very close to Alamosa and the Great Sand Dunes, it could really be described as a high plains desert.
Underneath that area of Colorado, are several Aquifers, lots of water, that can be tapped into. The Alligator farm itself has a 2,000+ feet deep well.
Originally, the Alligator farm opened up to grow Tilapia. This was going pretty well, except that they needed to find a way to get rid of all of the dead fish, and what was left over after the fish were processed. This sounds like a job for an Alligator!
They brought in an alligator, and it did well. So they brought more in. The interesting thing is that people would bring their unwanted exotic pets to the Alligator farm too.
Now the gator farm has a whole slew of creatures, from Wallabies, constricting snakes, bearded dragons, the biggest snapping turtle I’ve ever seen, tortoises, and of course, lots of Alligators.
It’s a pretty fun place to visit. When you go in you can buy a bucket of “gator chow” and feed the alligators as you go through. The tanks that hold the Tilapia are much like an aquarium, and there’s lots of animals to see.
Several times throughout the day, they wrestle the gators, and all of the staff is about as friendly as you could want them to be.
While we were there we started talking to a group that was sifting in the pond. Turns out they were looking for Alligator teeth, they fall out naturally, and they were even nice enough to give us a few.
We also mentioned that we had missed the wrestling of the gators last time, and it didn’t look like they were going to be able to do it that afternoon due to weather. Well, one of the guys got out of the pond, went over and wrestled with one of the alligators for us. It was really nice of them, especially considering we were the only ones there at the time.
We’ve made trips down there just to see the alligator farm, but there’s lots more to see in the area. If you happen to be visiting the Great Sand Dunes, or just passing through, I really suggest stopping by the gator farm.
The Alligator farm is located at:
9162 County Road 9 North
Mosca, CO 81146
(719) 378-2612
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July 21st, 2008 at 8:17 am
Did you wrestle any of them? I went last year and sat on their 13 ft alligator. Pretty intense!
July 21st, 2008 at 8:21 am
That’s pretty cool! No, I didn’t wrestle any of them, I didn’t know you could. Of course, they let me hold one of the small ones for a picture, but everyone gets to do that.
Thanks for stopping by Ron!