PALMDALE -- Alligator feeding shows are a popular attraction at Gatorama. [Photo by Katrina Elsken/Lake Okeechobee News]

Katrina Elsken

PALMDALE -- Baby alligators emerge from eggs during the Gator Hatching Festifal at Gatorama. [Photo by Katrina Elsken/Lake Okeechobee News]

PALMDALE -- Participants in the Gator Hatching Festival hold alligator eggs as they hatch. [Photo by Katrina Elsken/Lake Okeechobee News]

• 
• 
• 

PALMDALE – Gatorama, one of Florida’s original “roadside attractions,” is a living piece of Florida history. Since 1957, visitors have come to Palmdale to see alligators and crocodiles sun, swim and interact in their natural habitat-as well as jump out of the water at the feeding stations.

In addition to the gators and crocs, visitors who wander along the wooden walkways can see panthers, bobcats, raccoons, peacocks and tropical birds.

The facility was built in 1957 by Cecil Clemons. At that time, U.S. 27 was a two-lane road. Cecil decided that tourists visiting Florida wanted to see three things: The beach, orange trees and alligators. Alligators were already living in the area, so Cecil bought the land, fenced the gators in and built a walkway so tourists could watch them from a safe vantage point. Alligators can live up to 70 years in captivity, and some of the big gators have been there a very long time.

The first crocodiles were brought into Gatorama in 1968 before they were an endangered species. The natural range of the American Freshwater Crocodile is from Sanibel Island south. Gatorama has the only breeding colony of American Crocodiles in the United States.

David Thielen was raised in Lakeport. After a career as an army officer he retired and purchased Gatorama. At about the same time it became legal to farm alligators in the state of Florida. The park has remained in the family since.

The combination of tourism and aquaculture has been a successful one.

Allen and Patty Register moved to the farm in 1989 and began managing it for her parents, Marietta and David Thielen. The Registers purchased the farm in 2006. Both are native Floridians. 

The Registers’ dream was to enhance the entertainment and educational opportunities ofiered to guests and to begin special events at the park. In 1998 they began offering two shows a day (previously one a week on Sunday had been offered for 42 years) and offered every guest the opportunity to hold a live gator.

In 2006 they held the first ever Hatching Festival, giving visitors a chance to hold an alligator egg as it hatches.

While the park has been updated with new walkways and enclosures, the Registers have been careful to maintain the original look and character of the attraction.

Photographers find the park offers a unique chance to photograph alligators and crocodiles in their native habitat. Gatorama is often used as a backdrop for commercial films and photography.

Late summer brings the annual Alligator Hatching Festival. Visitors can hold alligator eggs as they hatch.

Alligators mate in the spring, explained Allen Register, of Gatorama. He said they collect alligator eggs from the nests made by the female alligators at Gatorama, and they also have a special permit to collect alligator eggs in the wild. Eggs are collected in the wild, under a special FWC permit. Taking a limited number of alligator eggs from wild nest does not impact the overall wild population, he explained. In the wild, only about 2% of the baby alligators that hatch survive.

Register said FWC tries to keep the Florida alligator population stable and sustainable.

Alligator hatching season depends on the weather and eggs. For updates on the hatching season, see Gatorama’s page on Facebook.

Gatorama, 10665 N. U.S. 27 in Palmdale, is open Thursday-Monday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Alligator feeding shows are at noon and 2:30 p.m.

For tickets to Gatorama, to reserve a spot at the Gator Hatching Festival or more information online, go to www.gatorama.com.