@kcheeb I stand by the post 100% and I will explain why.
Alligators don't eat nearly as often as a large mammal or other endothermic animals of the same size, this is absolutely true, but it's still a substantial amount of food that they are putting away when they do eat (I said in the post that they require large potions, not frequent feedings; ex. catching prey like a deer is a huge meal for a gator). We may simply be disagreeing since "a lot" is a completely subjective measurement; an adult alligator can survive on a single raccoon each week. To someone feeding something like a tiger which eats massive amounts of food per sitting, that's nothing, but to others it is still a pretty large quantity. For someone looking to keep one as a pet, providing that amount of food could be a challenge or unexpected financial burden which is why I chose to include it in this list. I also stated that they need a lot of food in terms of variety of foods: fish, red meat, commercial crocodilian feed, supplements and possibly even an plant-based component. So they require more types of food than people might realize.
Our facility has received several alligators illegally kept as pets that were turned over to animal control officers. Most of them have been malnourished because they weren't provided with enough food/the right nutrition. I never meant to imply that alligators are eating pounds and pounds of food a day, but I wanted to highlight that anyone interested in owning one must consider their unique dietary needs which can be difficult to meet.
Since the title of that section was a subjective statement, and I provided further context in the following paragraph, I still feel the post is accurate.
@kcheeb I stand by the post 100% and I will explain why.
Alligators don't eat nearly as often as a large mammal or other endothermic animals of the same size, this is absolutely true, but it's still a substantial amount of food that they are putting away when they do eat (I said in the post that they require large potions, not frequent feedings; ex. catching prey like a deer is a huge meal for a gator). We may simply be disagreeing since "a lot" is a completely subjective measurement; an adult alligator can survive on a single raccoon each week. To someone feeding something like a tiger which eats massive amounts of food per sitting, that's nothing, but to others it is still a pretty large quantity. For someone looking to keep one as a pet, providing that amount of food could be a challenge or unexpected financial burden which is why I chose to include it in this list. I also stated that they need a lot of food in terms of variety of foods: fish, red meat, commercial crocodilian feed, supplements and possibly even an plant-based component. So they require more types of food than people might realize.
Our facility has received several alligators illegally kept as pets that were turned over to animal control officers. Most of them have been malnourished because they weren't provided with enough food/the right nutrition. I never meant to imply that alligators are eating pounds and pounds of food a day, but I wanted to highlight that anyone interested in owning one must consider their unique dietary needs which can be difficult to meet.
Since the title of that section was a subjective statement, and I provided further context in the following paragraph, I still feel the post is accurate.