Nine week incubation. Female guards nest until babies call, then tears the nest open and cracks unhatched eggs with her teeth. She takes them to water and often remains with them. Young are about 9 inches at hatching, weighing 2 ounces. They probably live 50-60 years.
All alligators bask, smaller ones most frequently.
They hunt and feed at night. In winter, they bury themselves in mud, go into deep burrows or remain resting underwater with their nostrils above water and their breath keeping an air hole in the ice. Alligators can withstand cold better than crocodiles. American Alligators are the best vocalizers of the crocodilians. Adults have a throaty, bellowing roar with great carrying power.