Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was just wondering, I'm heading into college soon and I am looking for an exotic pet and I was wondering, where could I get a baby pet alligator?

You may want to read the Crocodilian Captive Care FAQ to make sure that an alligator is the right choice for you.

http://crocodilian.com/crocfaq/
croc captive care FAQ

alligators deffinately would not be a good 'pet' for college. They WIll get 12feet in lengh or more. They also eat a ton and not many can be tamed to be considered 'pets'. please make sure you do plenty of reading up on them before you decide on getting one. there are many other exotic pets out there. don't get an alligator just to show-off. Also, they need a permit in most states so check your state laws first because in college i'm sure word would spread that you have one and if you don't have a permit you will get a hefty fine and the gator will be taken away. please consider all that comes with an alligator.

k

I dont recommend an alligator as a pet to anyone who does not fully understand the responsibilty and the finacial cost that goes with owning one. For example, My 1-1/2 year old gator's home cost well over $1000.00. Shes grown from 8in. to close to 3 ft. in this time. If you really want an alligator do yourself a favor, Learn everything you can about them and wait till a later date when college is over. Just remeber they are cute at 8 inches but reach several feet very quick. I would recommend something else in the reptile family.

I understand there could be many complications but lets say
I had it all set up and was positive I wanted one, how would I go about getting it?

Croc Classifieds
http://market.kingsnake.com/index.php?cat=24
Croc Clasifieds

If you're heading off to college, where are you going to live? Most colleges do not allow pets in the dorms. Many apartment complexes also do not allow pets, neither do a lot of rental houses.

You can probably find a link to a dealer on kingsnake.com that has baby gators. They will want verification of permits and probably won't ship one to a state where ownership is restricted.

For less money, you can get a savannah monitor which will exhibit some of the same characteristics as a gator, get nowhere near the size (4' & 15lb vs 12' & 600lb) and be much less strictly regulated.

College is a very bad time to acquire a pet. Changing residences on a yearly bases, sharing living space with people and generally being poor make it very difficult to keep even an ordinary pet.

The link for classifieds at the top of the kingsnake.com page can link to several ads for baby gators, large juvenile gators and nile crocodiles. None of them will ship to areas with restrictions unless you have permits. You can get a baby gator shipped to you for $100. The expenses hit when you have to provide food, housing and vet care.

If your an animal lover I would highly recommend another animal..The animal itself is fairly inexpensive but the cost of housing, heating , feeding and filtration quickly bring the cost way up to the top of most costly to care for. Also, around 2 to 3 feet is when they lose their "cute" appeal and people start looking for new homes for them. Many alligators don't adapt to new surroundings very well after being bounced around from home to home. So my suggestion to you is if your a true animallover wait till your out of college and have your own home and can do things right.
crocodil

a very cool exotic pet would be dart frogs... i'm just getting into them myself. won't need huge cages when older just a 20 or 30gallon tank. i'm sure you'll like them. they're not hard to take care of and are cool to watch.

just something to consider......

k