I've had an alligator, I picked it up threw a local pet shop that the guy had hidden in the back. a customer didn't want it anymore when it was only 18 inches long.. which puts it at about 8 months to a year old... I put it into a 30 long at frist. the tanks was filled with gravel, and what I did, was build one side up so the gator would be able to come out of the water... after about a month, I put it in a 125 long, and I put floating platforms in there instead of the gravel, because every time I was feeding him he would eat a piece of gravel. so I put an end to that.. now I had it for 5 months and it was already 33 inches long. every book I read or wedsite that a looked at said they only grow about 1 foot a year.. well that was wrong, I proved that already... just keep that in mind when purchasing one. they grow and grow fast, and they are good climbers. when I had mine I was living up north. the thing got out of the 125, and was running around my basement for a week before I could catch him again.. a little food and the stick holding the box trick, just pull the string...
now keeping a P with one probably not a good idea, because even at 18 inches long the gator would probably eat a 4 inch P no problem.. the gators are fast and also good hunters.. I used to feed mine steak and feeder fish (large) and he would swallow them up so fast it was amazing to watch...
there was a local petshop that was pretty cool, they had a special enclosure that was something like you would see at a zoo. I want to say the glass was about 10-12 feet long, and it was over 7 feet high from the ground. it had a waterfall, and a couple of spots for alligators and or turtles to climb up on, but they couldn't climb out. and the water was about 3 foot deep. they had a small alligator in there about 4-5 long, and a couple of alligator snapping turtles, also 3 very large pacu's. too big for a 180. and everything there seemed fine... proper feeding and water changes... now what do you do when the alligator gets bigger... build a bigger tank, or find a zoo that will take him.. or take it to the butcher and have some alligator steaks, the people here in Florida seem to like them...
If you have your heart set on an alligator maybe try an alligator gar. they look just like one, except for the web feet, and they get really big really fast.. I've seen some on tv that get over 7 feet... I'm sure by that time you'll know what to do with it.....
andy
