{"id":608,"date":"2018-09-17T12:00:48","date_gmt":"2018-09-17T12:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gatoralleyfarm.com\/?p=608"},"modified":"2018-09-21T15:53:39","modified_gmt":"2018-09-21T15:53:39","slug":"harvest-season-and-beyond","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gatoralleyfarm.com\/harvest-season-and-beyond\/","title":{"rendered":"Harvest Season and Beyond"},"content":{"rendered":"

We just wrapped up harvest season at the swamp and have now introduced more baby alligators to our family here at Alligator Alley! But before these eggs hatched, we had to retrieve them from their nests \u2013 you know, the nests made and guarded by angry mama alligators. Not the safest task, but a life-changing experience for sure.
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Every year during harvesting season, typically alligator eggs begin to hatch and use their egg tooth<\/a>\u00a0to crack open their shell and escape into the world. Once they have emerged from their shells, they immediately begin their search for food and dodge predators along the way.<\/p>\n

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On alligator farms, the staff often assist the mother in the process, which is called \u201charvesting.\u201d Basically, the farmers will retrieve the eggs from the nest and place them in an incubator. After they hatch, the hatchlings become new additions to the farm!<\/p>\n

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These baby alligators are watched over by their protective mama alligator until she believes they are ready to \u201ctake on the real world\u201d by themselves. This generally takes about a year and then the baby alligators join a pod<\/a>\u00a0for up to three years postpartum. Staying in pods help protect the young from predators like raccoons, large fish, birds of prey and even other alligators!<\/p>\n

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As eggs usually hatch in June or July, they begin to leave the juvenile stage and transition into adulthood while still protected in their pods. Once the young alligators have reached four feet in length, they are then considered virtually invulnerable in the wild (and at the swamp), except to other, bigger alligators.<\/p>\n

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Now that you know all about harvesting and what follows,come visit ournew babies at Alligator Alley<\/a>! While you\u2019re there, be sure to hold them<\/a>\u00a0and maybe if you\u2019re lucky we\u2019ll let you name one!<\/p>\n

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We just wrapped up harvest season at the swamp and have now introduced more baby alligators to our family here at Alligator Alley! But before these eggs hatched, we had to retrieve them from their nests \u2013 you know, the nests made and guarded by…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[20,9,22,64,62,31,65,63,59,60,61,66],"class_list":["post-608","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-alabama","tag-alligator-alley","tag-alligator-eggs","tag-alligator-nests","tag-alligator-pod","tag-alligators","tag-baby-alligators","tag-eggs-hatched","tag-feeding-alligators","tag-harvest-season","tag-harvesting-alligators","tag-summerdale-alabama"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gatoralleyfarm.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gatoralleyfarm.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gatoralleyfarm.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gatoralleyfarm.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gatoralleyfarm.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=608"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gatoralleyfarm.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gatoralleyfarm.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gatoralleyfarm.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gatoralleyfarm.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}