Christopher Gillette

Will gators bite the hand that feeds?? ABSOLUTELY!! This is one of the most common, and ridiculous, misconceptions about working with gators😂. It’s a gator, not a Labrador, and has no problem biting the hand that feeds, ripping it off, and eating it! ~~~Our rescue gators are wild caught nuisance gators that would’ve otherwise been destroyed. The state of Florida destroys 8,000 “nuisance” gators annually, but we don’t have a nuisance gators problem but rather a nuisance HUMAN problem. 1k people a day move to FL, unsustainably developing the land, and a lot of ignorant people making a nuisance out of themselves. NEVER feed a wild gator, never have kids or pets near the water, and never swim in gator habitat! And of course, never attempt anything you see in my videos!Remember guys, we support our sanctuary through social media, so if you’d like to help the animals (for free), please like, leave a positive comment, and share!! We greatly appreciate it and so do the animals! If you would like to donate to the care of the sanctuary animals, we greatly appreciate any support!! You can make a tax deductible donations directly through our website bellowingacres.org @bellowingacres #animaleducation #Rescue #AnimalRescue #AnimalSanctuary #ExoticAnimals #Animals #Animals #CuteAnimals #educational #Gator #Alligator #crocodile #nilecroc #nilecrocodile #reptile #scicomm #rescuegator CG

Croc vs Gator!! This is my commentary on an American crocodile attacking an American alligator in Everglades National park. Florida is the only place in the world with both alligators and crocodiles native, and I’ve seen them sharing the same pond before. They won’t kill each other for looking different like humans do and generally treat each other as they would another of their own species- this does mean reacting territorially or defending a nesting location, which might explain what’s happening here. Some basic difference-gators have a more round broad snout, crocs more narrow, gators are usually in fresh water and crocs in salt/brackish BUT you can find either anywhere, I’ve seen crocs in full fresh and gators in hyper saline or ocean. The croc in this video is living in fresh water with gators. Crocs can drink saltwater and excrete it, gators can’t but they go in the ocean like people do, just to visit but not stay. Gators are usually darker, crocs lighter, gators usually have only top row of teeth exposed and crocs have both showing. The original video is by Taylor Bonachea via Storyful. #Educational #Animals #Alligator #Crocodile #Everglades #scicomm

Do the gators like being pet? Nope! They’ll tolerate it, or sometimes not as we see with Bella here 😂. But I have never had a gator seek me out for pets, only for food! ~~~Our rescue gators are wild caught nuisance gators that would’ve otherwise been destroyed. The state of Florida destroys 8,000 “nuisance” gators annually, but we don’t have a nuisance gators problem but rather a nuisance HUMAN problem. 1k people a day move to FL, unsustainably developing the land, and a lot of ignorant people making a nuisance out of themselves. NEVER feed a wild gator, never have kids or pets near the water, and never swim in gator habitat! And of course, never attempt anything you see in my videos!Remember guys, we support our sanctuary through social media, so if you’d like to help the animals (for free), please like, leave a positive comment, and share!! We greatly appreciate it and so do the animals! If you would like to donate to the care of the sanctuary animals, we greatly appreciate any support!! You can make a tax deductible donations directly through our website bellowingacres.org @bellowingacres #animaleducation #Rescue #AnimalRescue #AnimalSanctuary #ExoticAnimals #Animals #Animals #CuteAnimals #educational #Gator #Alligator #crocodile #nilecroc #nilecrocodile #reptile #scicomm #rescuegator CG

Big green gator!!! Actually gators are NOT green in color! They are often depicted as having green skin in almost every medium, but they are in fact not green, they’re various shades of black, grey, white, yellow, but not green! The only time a gator is green is when they have algae on them, as Big Mac does here!! Through the cold days of winter he went into a state of brumation and barely moved, accumulating a lot of algae. This algae does not hurt or affect the gator in any way. ~~~Our rescue gators are wild caught nuisance gators that would’ve otherwise been destroyed. The state of Florida destroys 8,000 “nuisance” gators annually, but we don’t have a nuisance gators problem but rather a nuisance HUMAN problem. 1k people a day move to FL, unsustainably developing the land, and a lot of ignorant people making a nuisance out of themselves. NEVER feed a wild gator, never have kids or pets near the water, and never swim in gator habitat! And of course, never attempt anything you see in my videos! If you would like to donate to the care of the sanctuary animals, we greatly appreciate any support!! You can make a tax deductible donations directly through our website bellowingacres.org @bellowingacres #animaleducation #Rescue #AnimalRescue #AnimalSanctuary #ExoticAnimals #Animals #Animals #CuteAnimals #educational #Gator #Alligator #crocodile #nilecroc #nilecrocodile #reptile #scicomm #rescuegator CG

Big Mac lookin green! But gators are not actually green in color, this is just algae on him! Also talking about how different gators react differently to the cold! ~~~Our rescue gators are wild caught nuisance gators that would’ve otherwise been destroyed. The state of Florida destroys 8,000 “nuisance” gators annually, but we don’t have a nuisance gators problem but rather a nuisance HUMAN problem. 1k people a day move to FL, unsustainably developing the land, and a lot of ignorant people making a nuisance out of themselves. NEVER feed a wild gator, never have kids or pets near the water, and never swim in gator habitat! And of course, never attempt anything you see in my videos!Remember guys, we support our sanctuary through social media, so if you’d like to help the animals (for free), please like, leave a positive comment, and share!! We greatly appreciate it and so do the animals! If you would like to donate to the care of the sanctuary animals, we greatly appreciate any support!! You can make a tax deductible donations directly through our website bellowingacres.org @bellowingacres #animaleducation #Rescue #AnimalRescue #AnimalSanctuary #ExoticAnimals #Animals #Animals #CuteAnimals #educational #Gator #Alligator #crocodile #nilecroc #nilecrocodile #reptile #scicomm #rescuegator CG

Snappy little gator!! This is Matcha, Dino’s girlfriend. She’s a relatively new addition and is still acclimating, obviously not trained whatsoever and is still showing 100% wild gator behavior, very afraid and defensive. A few days ago we cleaned the pond and she exited it, but hasn’t gone back into the water since, and after the recent scare with Big Mac (he’s perfectly normal now), I wanted to make sure Matcha got back into the water too! She was less than appreciative 😂. I was able to gently pull her by the tail some of the way, but most of it was just having her lunging towards me in the direction of the water until we got her there 😂. This behavior is NOT aggressive, she’s just afraid and trying to defend herself, and every gator we get starts like this. She’s also small, only 5’2”, which might make you think that means less dangerous since she’s small, but it’s the OPPOSITE! The 5-6ft size class is the most dangerous and most likely to bite you, small enough to still be super quick but just big enough to rip your hand right off your arm. Obviously a big 10ft gator can do more damage, but is also easier to avoid. Thanks for helping me film this, George! ~~~Our rescue gators are wild caught nuisance gators that would’ve otherwise been destroyed. The state of Florida destroys 8,000 “nuisance” gators annually, but we don’t have a nuisance gators problem but rather a nuisance HUMAN problem. 1k people a day move to FL, unsustainably developing the land, and a lot of ignorant people making a nuisance out of themselves. NEVER feed a wild gator, never have kids or pets near the water, and never swim in gator habitat! And of course, never attempt anything you see in my videos! If you would like to donate to the care of the sanctuary animals, we greatly appreciate any support!! You can make a tax deductible donations directly through our website bellowingacres.org @bellowingacres #animaleducation #Rescue #AnimalRescue #AnimalSanctuary #ExoticAnimals #Animals #Animals #CuteAnimals #educational #Gator #Alligator #crocodile #nilecroc #nilecrocodile #reptile #scicomm #rescuegator CG

So this is a crazy Big Mac update! He apparently forgot he needs to drink water, or forgot where the pond is, or our enclosures are so big and grand that he got lost?? Not sure what happened here! He didn’t leave the water once during the cold weeks, then once the sun was out and it warmed up he went to bask, a few days go by and he hasn’t moved so I thought that was weird but it’s up to him and he still wanted food so he’s ok, then a full week goes by and he did NOT want food so I knew something was up! Gators can go up to a year without eating, but can die of dehydration after a few weeks depending on heat/conditions/activity. Funny enough a LOT of people think they NEED to be in water at all times like a fish, Big Mac decided to prove those people wrong this week lol. But in all seriousness I was getting pretty concerned after a week of not drinking, then not wanting food! So we dragged his big 10’2” butt back to the pond and he immediately started drinking water! I’m not sure exactly why he did this, but now he hasn’t left the water again lol. Remember guys, we support our sanctuary through social media, so if you’d like to help the animals (for free), please like, leave a positive comment, and share!! We greatly appreciate it and so do the animals! ~~~Our rescue gators are wild caught nuisance gators that would’ve otherwise been destroyed. The state of Florida destroys 8,000 “nuisance” gators annually, but we don’t have a nuisance gators problem but rather a nuisance HUMAN problem. 1k people a day move to FL, unsustainably developing the land, and a lot of ignorant people making a nuisance out of themselves. NEVER feed a wild gator, never have kids or pets near the water, and never swim in gator habitat! And of course, never attempt anything you see in my videos! If you would like to donate to the care of the sanctuary animals, we greatly appreciate any support!! You can make a tax deductible donations directly through our website bellowingacres.org @bellowingacres #animaleducation #Rescue #AnimalRescue #AnimalSanctuary #ExoticAnimals #Animals #Animals #CuteAnimals #educational #Gator #Alligator #crocodile #nilecroc #nilecrocodile #reptile #scicomm #rescuegator CG

A video of me and Casper from last year talking about the amazing healing abilities of alligators!! They’re able to handle major physical trauma that would be fatal for a human and they just heal up and survive!! There’s a reason they’ve been around for so long!! This video just came up in my memories from last year at Everglades Outpost. —-Reminder- Casper lives at the outpost, he is not my gator, and I now have my own animal sanctuary I’ve dedicated my life to that I’m at full time that is 6hrs away so I do not see Casper anymore. I’m honestly hesitant to even share my memories videos like this because of how crazy and rude people get about this topic, so PLEASE be respectful. #gator #alligator #everglades #florida #southflorida #glades #adventure #coexist #respect #reptile #adventure #floridalife #southflorida #miami #evergladesnationalpark

Talking gator! Discussing alligator vocalizations with Bella!! She has a lot to say!😂🐊 ~~~Our rescue gators are wild caught nuisance gators that would’ve otherwise been destroyed. The state of Florida destroys 8,000 “nuisance” gators annually, but we don’t have a nuisance gators problem but rather a nuisance HUMAN problem. 1k people a day move to FL, unsustainably developing the land, and a lot of ignorant people making a nuisance out of themselves. NEVER feed a wild gator, never have kids or pets near the water, and never swim in gator habitat! And of course, never attempt anything you see in my videos!If you would like to donate to the care of the sanctuary animals, we greatly appreciate any support!! You can make a tax deductible donations directly through our website bellowingacres.org @bellowingacres #animaleducation #Rescue #AnimalRescue #AnimalSanctuary #ExoticAnimals #Animals #Animals #CuteAnimals #educational #Gator #Alligator #crocodile #nilecroc #nilecrocodile #reptile #scicomm #rescuegator CG

Bella gator is such a talker! She lets everyone know how she’s feeling 😂. Working on some training with her today! ~~~Our rescue gators are wild caught nuisance gators that would’ve otherwise been destroyed. The state of Florida destroys 8,000 “nuisance” gators annually, but we don’t have a nuisance gators problem but rather a nuisance HUMAN problem. 1k people a day move to FL, unsustainably developing the land, and a lot of ignorant people making a nuisance out of themselves. NEVER feed a wild gator, never have kids or pets near the water, and never swim in gator habitat! And of course, never attempt anything you see in my videos! Remember guys, we support our sanctuary through social media, so if you’d like to help the animals (for free), please like, leave a positive comment, and share!! We greatly appreciate it and so do the animals! If you would like to donate to the care of the sanctuary animals, we greatly appreciate any support!! You can make a tax deductible donations directly through our website bellowingacres.org @bellowingacres #animaleducation #Rescue #AnimalRescue #AnimalSanctuary #ExoticAnimals #Animals #Animals #CuteAnimals #educational #Gator #Alligator #crocodile #nilecroc #nilecrocodile #reptile #scicomm #rescuegator CG

Tadpole stoping in to say hi!! ~~If you would like to donate to the care of the sanctuary animals, we greatly appreciate any support!! You can make a tax deductible donations directly through our website bellowingacres.org @bellowingacres Remember guys, we support our sanctuary through social media, so if you’d like to help the animals (for free), please like, leave a positive comment, and share!! We greatly appreciate it and so do the animals! #Fox #animaleducation #FennecFox #Rescue #AnimalRescue #AnimalSanctuary #ExoticAnimals #Animals #Animals #Mammal #CuteAnimals #educational #coati #coatimundi #cavy #patagoniancavy #emu #pig #VietnamesePotbellyPig #RescuePig #emu #Gator #Alligator #crocodile #nilecroc #nilecrocodile

Puerto Rico has an invasive species problem with reticulated pythons! Retics are the longest snake species in the world and are native to Southeast Asia, but have become an invasive species in Puerto Rico! These massive constrictors were brought over via the pet trade, similar to the invasive Burmese pythons in the Florida Everglades. I went to PR in search of these snakes with my friends ​⁠George, Brian, and Kevin. We were able to capture three retics and drop them off with Luna who is heading up the retic project in PR! Check out my full trip video posted on the “main video app” I can’t name here because of the algorithm, on my GatorChris channel! We had an AMAZING time, found some really cool animals, and met some great people!! #retic #reticulatedpython #puertorico #InvasiveSpecies #Biology #SciComm #Educational #Animal #Snake #wildlife

Gator safety with Casper! Don’t feed the gators!! A fed gator is a dead Gator, they end up being shot for fed behavior. And the main reason people get bit by gators is someone was feeding them! This video just came up in my memories from last year at Everglades Outpost. —-Reminder- Casper lives at the outpost, he is not my gator, and I now have my own animal sanctuary I’ve dedicated my life to that I’m at full time that is 6hrs away so I do not see Casper anymore. I’m honestly hesitant to even share my memories videos like this because of how crazy and rude people get about this topic, so PLEASE be respectful. #gator #alligator #everglades #florida #southflorida #glades #adventure #coexist #respect #reptile #adventure #floridalife #southflorida #miami #evergladesnationalpark

Bella the bold blocking the big door!! 😂 This is actually the only time she’s down this, she was in a mood😂. ~~~Our rescue gators are wild caught nuisance gators that would’ve otherwise been destroyed. The state of Florida destroys 8,000 “nuisance” gators annually, but we don’t have a nuisance gators problem but rather a nuisance HUMAN problem. 1k people a day move to FL, unsustainably developing the land, and a lot of ignorant people making a nuisance out of themselves. NEVER feed a wild gator, never have kids or pets near the water, and never swim in gator habitat! And of course, never attempt anything you see in my videos!Remember guys, we support our sanctuary through social media, so if you’d like to help the animals (for free), please like, leave a positive comment, and share!! We greatly appreciate it and so do the animals! If you would like to donate to the care of the sanctuary animals, we greatly appreciate any support!! You can make a tax deductible donations directly through our website bellowingacres.org @bellowingacres #animaleducation #Rescue #AnimalRescue #AnimalSanctuary #ExoticAnimals #Animals #Animals #CuteAnimals #educational #Gator #Alligator #crocodile #nilecroc #nilecrocodile #reptile #scicomm #rescuegator CG

#onthisday

Checkup on Gaston the bloated gator! We redid x-rays and bloodwork on him and discovered fecaliths developing, check out the latest sanctuary vlog for the full explanation of what this means for him and other gators facing the same bloating. The Vlog is featured on my GatorChris channel on the “main video app” I can’t name because of the algorithm here, in this episode we also xray Dino, the porcupine, and the new emu! Thanks so much to @thenomadvet and @swamp_girl for coming to check up on the sanctuary animals! ~~~Our rescue gators are wild caught nuisance gators that would’ve otherwise been destroyed. The state of Florida destroys 8,000 “nuisance” gators annually, but we don’t have a nuisance gators problem but rather a nuisance HUMAN problem. 1k people a day move to FL, unsustainably developing the land, and a lot of ignorant people making a nuisance out of themselves. NEVER feed a wild gator, never have kids or pets near the water, and never swim in gator habitat! And of course, never attempt anything you see in my videos! Remember guys, we support our sanctuary through social media, so if you’d like to help the animals (for free), please like, leave a positive comment, and share!! We greatly appreciate it and so do the animals! If you would like to donate to the care of the sanctuary animals, we greatly appreciate any support!! You can make a tax deductible donations directly through our website bellowingacres.org @bellowingacres #animaleducation #Rescue #AnimalRescue #AnimalSanctuary #ExoticAnimals #Animals #Animals #CuteAnimals #educational #Gator #Alligator #crocodile #nilecroc #nilecrocodile #reptile #scicomm #rescuegator CG

Our first time practicing a mock voluntary blood draw with Dino! For the first time, he actually did pretty well! Repeating this will hopefully get him comfortable enough for the real thing down the line. When we first caught Dino he had a horribly infected leg & was largely unresponsive, which after multiple vet visits we learned he was also suffering from lead toxicity due to a lead fishing weight being stuck in his GI tract with a hook. After a lot of care, and a lot of moments thinking he wasn’t going to make it, and a lot of moments of him trying to kill me as we pulled him out for treatment, he’s doing much better! We still need to do chelation therapy to remove the lead trapped in his tissues, and surgery to remove the lead weight, but for now we’re just trying to get more weight on him to be able to survive the treatments. We’re giving him thiamine in his food to prevent the uptake of the lead currently in his system. If you’d like to learn more about the treatment plan and all the details, check it out on my GatorChris channel on the “main video app” I can’t name because of the algorithm. ~~~Our rescue gators are wild caught nuisance gators that would’ve otherwise been destroyed. The state of Florida destroys 8,000 “nuisance” gators annually, but we don’t have a nuisance gators problem but rather a nuisance HUMAN problem. 1k people a day move to FL, unsustainably developing the land, and a lot of ignorant people making a nuisance out of themselves. NEVER feed a wild gator, never have kids or pets near the water, and never swim in gator habitat! And of course, never attempt anything you see in my videos!If you would like to donate to the care of the sanctuary animals, we greatly appreciate any support!! You can make a tax deductible donations directly through our website bellowingacres.org #animaleducation #Rescue #AnimalRescue #AnimalSanctuary #ExoticAnimals #Animals #Animals #CuteAnimals #educational #Gator #Alligator #crocodile #nilecroc #nilecrocodile #reptile #scicomm #rescuegator

Queen Akila the Nile crocodile enjoying a rack of ribs!! She had a great time crunching and shaking it! “But what about the bones? Isn’t it too big?” Well, in the wild they only order boneless nuggets, but here at the sanctuary we make them rough it😂. Remember guys, we support our sanctuary through social media, so if you’d like to help the animals (for free), please like, leave a positive comment, and share!! We greatly appreciate it and so do the animals! ~~If you would like to donate to the care of the sanctuary animals, we greatly appreciate any support!! You can make a tax deductible donations directly through our website bellowingacres.org @bellowingacres #Fox #animaleducation #FennecFox #Rescue #AnimalRescue #AnimalSanctuary #ExoticAnimals #Animals #Animals #Mammal #CuteAnimals #educational #coati #coatimundi #cavy #patagoniancavy #emu #pig #VietnamesePotbellyPig #RescuePig #emu #Gator #Alligator #crocodile #nilecroc #nilecrocodile

Big Mac enjoying some grinds!! “Grinds” are basically blenderized whole prey, bones and organs and everything. Here he is getting chicken and rabbit grinds. We buy the grinds mainly for the foxes, but had a few bags go bad during a power outage, but the gators don’t mind!! They have no problem eating rotting meat and regularly consume rotting corpses in the wild, and are known to take large prey and store it up under roots underwater to eat later. ~~~Our rescue gators are wild caught nuisance gators that would’ve otherwise been destroyed. The state of Florida destroys 8,000 “nuisance” gators annually, but we don’t have a nuisance gators problem but rather a nuisance HUMAN problem. 1k people a day move to FL, unsustainably developing the land, and a lot of ignorant people making a nuisance out of themselves. NEVER feed a wild gator, never have kids or pets near the water, and never swim in gator habitat! And of course, never attempt anything you see in my videos! If you would like to donate to the care of the sanctuary animals, we greatly appreciate any support!! You can make a tax deductible donations directly through our website bellowingacres.org @bellowingacres #animaleducation #Rescue #AnimalRescue #AnimalSanctuary #ExoticAnimals #Animals #Animals #CuteAnimals #educational #Gator #Alligator #crocodile #nilecroc #nilecrocodile #reptile #scicomm #rescuegator CG

Owl adaptations with Caloosa, our nonreleasable barred owl!! She was stuck by a car 10 yrs ago and deemed nonreleasable. Barred owls have highly acute hearing, which is crucial for locating prey in dense forests, even in complete darkness. Their ears are asymmetrically placed on their skulls—one ear is higher than the other. This asymmetry allows them to pinpoint the exact location of sounds in both the vertical and horizontal planes. The right ear is typically higher and angled upwards, while the left ear is lower and angled downwards, enabling them to detect sounds from different directions and elevations with remarkable precision. Their flight feathers are specialized with serrated edges that break up the turbulence caused by wing flapping, reducing noise. Additionally, the velvety texture of the feathers helps to muffle sound, allowing them to glide silently towards their prey. This silent flight capability not only aids in sneaking up on prey but also ensures that the owl can hear even the faintest sounds during flight, further enhancing its hunting efficiency. ~~If you would like to donate to the care of the sanctuary animals, we greatly appreciate any support!! You can make a tax deductible donations directly through our website bellowingacres.org @bellowingacres #owl #animaleducation #barredowl #Rescue #AnimalRescue #AnimalSanctuary #ExoticAnimals #Animals #Animals #Mammal #CuteAnimals #educational #coati #coatimundi #cavy #patagoniancavy #emu #pig #VietnamesePotbellyPig #RescuePig #emu #Gator #Alligator #crocodile #nilecroc #nilecrocodile