Raising Gators for Table Fare

[Mike41793]

I would. Otherwise I'd be playing a hypocrite. "You can eat those, but I'll be offended if you eat those!" Doesn't quite jive. I love horses. I've worked with them almost my entire life. To say they mean a lot to me is an understatement. But, I know people eat horse meat. As long as the animals are treated humanely, then I have no problem with it. What's worse? An animal not being eaten, but suffering in a field from neglect, or being raised properly and eventually put down for meat? I've seen 'happy cows' that we eventually put down for food. I'd much rather see that than see those mass-production farms where animals don't ever see daylight and are pumped with anti-biotics to avoid disease from being so confined

I hate horses. I would love to eat them but idk if i even could bc they freak me out so much lol...

[Vasiliki]

I hate horses. I would love to eat them but idk if i even could bc they freak me out so much lol...

Weirdo! Haha. Joking

Nah that's fair enough. I work mainly with 'problem' horses that are considered dangerous to humans for whatever reason, so it's totally legit to be freaked out by them. They definitely are a different kind of animal. Whole different set of behavior triggers, mannerisms... Not to mention most are around 1,000lbs of muscle.

But you'd love to eat something you hate? I hate crickets and I have no desire to eat those !

[Wh00h0069]

But you'd love to eat something you hate? I hate crickets and I have no desire to eat those !

I hate politicians...

[apple2]

I don't have a problem if the animals are kept humanely, but the government might. If you are raising animals for slaughter and are in the US, you might need to get special commercial permits or agricultural licenses. Be sure to check this out first, or else you could get a nasty fine.


And Vasiliki, what about these? I ate one once and it was pretty bad...

[Dragoon]

likely cheaper to buy gator meat than the years of feeding them.

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I hate politicians...

They smell too much like B.S. likely to ruin your apatite for dinner.

[gsarchie]

I wouldn't see the point to raise balls for food (snakes, not rocky mountain oysters). They grow too slowly and even full grown wouldn't provide much meat. Gators at farms, on the other hand, will grow up to 4' in their first year. I wouldn't tell someone that they shouldn't eat anything but some things to me wouldn't make sense.

[Anatopism]

I wouldn't see the point to raise balls for food (snakes, not rocky mountain oysters). They grow too slowly and even full grown wouldn't provide much meat. Gators at farms, on the other hand, will grow up to 4' in their first year. I wouldn't tell someone that they shouldn't eat anything but some things to me wouldn't make sense.

+1

Just watched a silly video on why we don't ride zebras... talked about the 7 characteristics an animal must meet to be considered 'domesticated' or 'domesticatable' (might have made that word up, doesn't look right in text)... there are lots of things that probably taste great, or would be worth eating if you were out in the wild and needed a meal, but don't make sense to farm or raise as a regular food source. People will pay a lot more for a living breathing breedable ball python, than one on a plate

EDIT: BTW.. the answer to why we don't ride zebras, is that apparently, as they get older, they also get really mean. I wish we could ride elk around. Tell me that wouldn't be awesome.

I don't have a problem if the animals are kept humanely, but the government might. If you are raising animals for slaughter and are in the US, you might need to get special commercial permits or agricultural licenses. Be sure to check this out first, or else you could get a nasty fine.

^^^^ This.

I wonder if people would be so open-minded if the OP were asking about raising ball pythons instead of gators?

I would have no problem with somebody raising any type of snake for meat, including ball pythons, if done so humanely/legally

Now I've started wondering... what have I eaten?

- Horse
- Lamb/Sheep
- Goat
- Mealworms
- Crickets
- Chicken (meat, egg)
- Rabbit
- Snake
- Gator
- Cow/Veal
- Venison/Deer
- Elk
- Turkey
- Pig
- Duck (meat, eggs on the way)
- Bison/American Buffalo
- Assorted seafoods/crustaceans/snails, cooked and raw (mmmmmmm sushi)

Most seem pretty tame imo.. but there are lots on my list I'd like to try, just for the experience, and because I've yet to eat a meat I don't like at least the flavor of. Only texture issue I've had were with some seafoods.. but still delicious. Doesn't matter what animal or if it is seen as a pet by one culture and not the other... If it's meat raised ethically/responsibly/humanely, it's on my list. I avoid certain types of fish, or brands I know don't raise or harvest or fish responsibly. I don't want to contribute to a declining population if I can help it, but if the species is doing well, and collected/harvested/raised/slaughtered to my standards, why not? (As Andrew Zimmern of Bizarre Foods would say, "If it looks good, eat it!")

[Vasiliki]

EDIT: BTW.. the answer to why we don't ride zebras, is that apparently, as they get older, they also get really mean. I wish we could ride elk around. Tell me that wouldn't be awesome.

Przewalski horses fall under the same category. They cannot be ridden. Even as young animals, they freak out when something is on their back and will do anything to get it off, haha. Zebras are the same way. There is one case I know of where a zebra is considered 'almost' tame. This gentleman can ride it. It obeys commands from the reins and legs. BUT.... Every now and then it has a bad day and will not continue with it. The zebra is also said to require daily interaction, otherwise it will progressively get more and more 'attitude'.

However, they've realized that it only takes four generations for foxes to tame down enough to be household pets. So that's pretty cool!

[WingedWolfPsion]

It's not exactly that foxes 'tame down in 4 generations'. The Fox Farm experiments were HIGHLY intensive, involving brutal selection among a very large number of animals. Only the least aggressive and stressed animals were bred. The end result was a domesticated fox, that's been nicknamed the 'sibfox'. Sibfoxes are not tame wild foxes. Their behavior and appearance are different. The domestication process took about 40 years, NOT 4 generations.
Animals captive bred, to captive-bred parents, do tend to be much calmer and easier to tame, but they are not domesticated, and I don't think anyone would be happy with a fox as a house pet, in the long run. Sibfoxes are a different story, but even they still need some selection to work out a few kinks (such as housebreaking).

Anyhow, if you want both the experience of keeping a pet alligator, and alligator meat, why not? It doesn't matter what the animal is 'raised for'--if it's raised humanely, then where it winds up is irrelevant to that. I'm sure your alligator steaks will be unusually expensive, but then, you're not doing it to save money on meat.

I believe farmed alligators are fed on a pellet diet, or a mix of pellets and meat.

By the way, the last I read, pigs actually score higher on average in intelligence tests than dogs do. They're really VERY bright animals. They don't look to humans for direction, the way dogs have evolved to do. However, a pig's nose rivals a bloodhound, and they are in fact used by the military, in many places around the world. They're also used by the police force. They're particularly skilled at sniffing out land mines, and locating contraband.

http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/at...security-r.jpg

They also do search and rescue work. So, there are some actual pig officers out there, too.

[Vasiliki]

It's not exactly that foxes 'tame down in 4 generations'. The Fox Farm experiments were HIGHLY intensive, involving brutal selection among a very large number of animals. Only the least aggressive and stressed animals were bred. The end result was a domesticated fox, that's been nicknamed the 'sibfox'. Sibfoxes are not tame wild foxes. Their behavior and appearance are different. The domestication process took about 40 years, NOT 4 generations.
Animals captive bred, to captive-bred parents, do tend to be much calmer and easier to tame, but they are not domesticated, and I don't think anyone would be happy with a fox as a house pet, in the long run. Sibfoxes are a different story, but even they still need some selection to work out a few kinks (such as housebreaking).
.

Very interesting. The documentary I saw that featured that tidbit was far too short to cover the topic extensively, so I admit I was not well versed on the topic. Not something I really delved into, as I'm not a fox person. But that's something that's quite interesting. Thanks for the information

The process of domesticating does change the original appearence, however. Pigs are still pigs and directly related to boars. However, their appearence obviously changes to reflect the process. The same rings true for many species of dogs, which originated from much more robust examples of their wild counterparts. So the fact that the sibfox is an alterated appearence and behavior of a wild cousin makes sense. Same as wild wolves and dogs are still linked, but different. The sibfox makes sense too. It's still a 'fox', but it isn't a true 'wild type fox'. We could also use Ball Pythons. Morphs that exist now are in direct relation and alteration based on specific breeding by humans and are different from 'wild type' ball pythons (pattern and color, not physical or structural changes).

Gosh this is a fun topic. Haha. Always something to learn.