Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-03-15
RAISING ALLIGATORs AS PETS.
Mr.. Mather's Work with an Incubator
Rearing Prairie Chickens.
From tAe Mem York IfibHne.

Mr.. Mather's Work with an Incubator
Rearing Prairie Chickens.
Front The Mem York 7JiJane.
There are about two dozen little alliga-
tors squirming about in the show window
Of No. 96 Broad street. Beside them IS a
three-story Incubato with number OF
! fluffy little chickens looking out OF the sec
ond story windows. The inference is natu-
raj that the youthful alligatOrs were also
Matched out by artificial means, ana the
! other day a reporter went In TO ask mr'
! Mather about il. Mr.. Mather is q great
broad-shouldered, intelligent scotchman,
who is the stepmOther OF tens OF thous-
ands OF little chickens, ducklings and Cos
I lings, who we're 'born they know not
why" but who could read the answer IN
scientific arrangement of kerosene
lamps ana saWdust, If they were niue
better posted as TO causes and eHects IN
| the life OF chekendOm.
! Mr.. Mather smiled and said that the
! flock or tribe or herd, or whatever the
commercial settlement of alligators
may be called, were all Matched out in his
incubators and he had done the same
thing many times before. Out OF TINS
baton Of ttty eggs he had incubated thlr-
ty-TVe bouncing young alligatOrs. IL re-
quired from ~ 10 30 days to complete the
operation, but this was an Improvement
Of three days on nature. When on her
native heath, Mrs. Alligator leaves her
eggs carefully buried on convenient
sand-bar and then goes off to gossip with
her lady alligator friends, leaving her
embryonic offspring to the tender mercies
OF the sand and the sun. The shell OF the
alligator's egg, like that OF the snake ana
turtle, Is horny and has none OF the car
Donate Of lime that forms an important
part Of the ordinary egg-shell. IL is not
Clipped or cracked by the ambitious In
mate, but is sOitened by moisture and
then worn away or burst open. In the
natural state there is often lack of
moisture and it is by supplying this need
that Mr.. IN ather is enabled to compete
successfully with nature in the manutac-
ture OF alligat0rs.
The infantile alligator is about inches
long and black as the heart Of a stage viii
lain. For the first few days he nourishes
himself with the absorption of his shell
lining. When this means of support is
exhausted he is fed ON oatmeal, milk and
meat. The oatmealis sprinkled in the
water in which he paddles about. Once
in three days he is taken up and ch0ked
until he opens his mouth. Then little
pieces OF fresh meat, each about the size
OF a pepper corn are dropped into his
mouth and disappears like pennies into
the secretiye entrails of a east-ir0n First
National Bank" When the milk is to be
fed to him be is hanged up by the tail with
his nose just submerged in the milk. This
leaves HIM the choice between sutfOca-
ting and drinking milk and as he isn't a
bad little alligator at heart he generally
Yields TO persuasion. The members of
MIR. Mather's happy alligator family are
five or six weeks old and extremely viva |
ciOus for alligatOrs Of that age. They are |
about foot long. Their teeth are we'll
developed and one vicious little bun came |
near taking a piece out of Mr.. Mather's
thumb the other day. He had his alliga-
torship in his pocket and when he put his
hand in TO pull him out, the young reptile
caught hold Of his thumb. An attempt to
shake or pull him of would have taken a /
piece out OF his thumb. The only way |
to choke him till he gasped.
MIR. Mather says that he has raised |
many alligatOrs and sold them as pets. |
They can be taught to come when whis- /
tied for and when locked out in the back I
kitchen over night one will bark like a /
lonely dog. Vigorous and repeated APP |
plicalions of the stick will cure him OF 4
this trick of singing when he's saddest, |
and although a well-trained alligator has /
trouble about putting his tail between his |
egs, he'll make the attempt and crawl |
1t him. The alligator is said to live to the
good old age of 100 years if not troubled
with dyspepsia, and MIR. Mather is able
o stand up before his fellOw-men and tell
story about one that he kept till he was
feet long and 10 inches broad, and so
strong that ne could trip his owner up
n catch-as-eatch-can wrestling match.
Tins highly4educated alligator would
claw his beloved master, and thrash
with his tail in fun, but would never bite
aim or any Of his children, though not
lyerse to an occasional mouthful of
lender and juicy small boy of any other
family.
"Pve Matched out snakes, turtles and
all kinds of fowls and reptiles" says Mr..
Mather, ''but the worst thingI ever tack
led vas a prairie chicken. l lost brood
after brood no matter what l fed them. |
Finally / gave two men s. each to 90 out |
and find me a nest of young birds just |
Matched. They brought me three. When |
| opened their crops found, nettle seed, |
seed, and one or two other light |
seeds in them. That gave me the key.
After that / could raise all the prairie
chickens that were wanted"