MONTHS ago my mom asked us if we wanted to go to the Instagator Ranch in August to see baby alligators hatching. They took my nieces and nephews when they were younger and were dying to take Blaine and Vivienne. So since booking our reservation, every time my mom saw or spoke to the kids she would ask, "Who wants to see an alligator?" And both the kids would raise their hands and excitedly yell, "meeeeeeee!!" We like building anticipation in my family.
So the day finally arrived and we made the trip to the north shore to check it out. Instagator Ranch is a really cool operation. We spent some time hearing how they got started. At one point, alligators were nearing joining the endangered species list, but because of Instagator and other similar establishments, there are now more alligators than people in the state of Louisiana! The people of Instagator fly out over the marshes, locate alligator nests during June, collect the eggs, and bring them back to the ranch. Here, they hatch the eggs in August and release a percentage of the alligators back to their nest's area once they reach four feet long and can defend themselves from predators.
We took a tour of the ranch and got to see different sized alligators and feed them.
We were able to hold some that were probably about 2 feet long (mouths taped shut) in a pool. Vivienne got a kick out of grabbing them by the tail and pulling them closer for me to pick them up. She wasn't the least bit afraid! Louisiana girls are natural alligator wranglers.
We hatched FIVE baby alligators in our hands. This was a little weird. It consisted of breaking the hard outer shell and helping them break through the thick membrane, an act the babies could surely do naturally without our assistance. It was a little icky, but very cool!
This was such a fun experience. We will definitely be going again one day! If you plan on visiting Instagator, make sure to go during hatching season and reserve an egg!
