Continuing our Strange Pet of the Day series, we come to one of my favorites, crocodiles and alligators. Many people are confused over the differences between them. I use this handy mnemonic: with alligators, you have to be "all" the way in before you lose consciousness and begin to be digested, but crocs prefer to viciously tear their food to pieces first, thus you endure less pain all things considered.

There's information on keeping gators and crocs as pets here, including this intriguing bit:

...At the same time, however, there has recently been a disturbing tendency for certain authorities (both legitimate and self-appointed) to seize captive crocodilians in the UK in what can be described at best as devious tactics and at worst as outright theft. Certainly in cases where owners have legitimate paperwork, the excuses for these raids have been very flimsy, and even in one case where the owner did not possess a DWA license for these particular animals, this was at least partly because the local authority had told him in advance that they would never grant him a licence, and the vet employed by that authority had openly expressed a loathing of crocodilians and reptiles in general. It is also highly suspicious that the animals thus seized turned up in Portugal at premises run by a friend of the so-called "expert" who had played a large part in these proceedings. It was generally agreed in court that the crocodiles kept by the local man had been well looked after. There is doubtless more unpleasantness to be exposed to the public gaze in this particular case, so watch this space...

The page was last updated in April 2003...

When I was in Arkansas, I visited an alligator farm.

There's more on the Reptilian Agenda here.