# Good idea or bad idea **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 8, 2013, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-idea-or-bad-idea/652419 "2013-03-08T19:37:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-idea-or-bad-idea/652419/41 "2013-03-27T15:00:44Z")
Please don’t remove the frogs from their habitat. Dangerous or not, illegal or not, the fact remains that many frogs are endangered. Please don’t contribute to the decline of these wonderful creatures. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-idea-or-bad-idea/652419/42 "2013-03-27T15:04:43Z")
I have not read this thread at all. Just the title. The general rule: it is a bad idea. I shall now proceed to read the thread. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-idea-or-bad-idea/652419/43 "2013-03-27T15:06:18Z")
> [@Richard\_Pearse](#): > > Oh you have a potion? Why didn’t you say so earlier? If you have a potion you’ll be fine. It’s dangerous to scuba alone! Take this! ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-idea-or-bad-idea/652419/44 "2013-03-27T15:48:18Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > I have not read this thread at all. Just the title. The general rule: it is a bad idea. I shall now proceed to read the thread. See, you were completely wrong. I think it is a great idea although he seems to expanded the scope of the expedition to actually capturing an alligator now to raise as a pet. Cute. > **[are alligators smart](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=686376)** > > I am thinking of taking a small alligator from the swamp and put it in my uncles pond. My friend said he took one and he feeds it hamburgers and hot dogs and can teach it to do tricks. Will this alligator grow up to be like a dog or will it bite... ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-idea-or-bad-idea/652419/45 "2013-03-28T00:05:41Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > It’s dangerous to scuba alone! Take this! [A tiny kitten might help a bit -](http://www.yserasdaughter.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Its_dangerous_to_go_alone_Take_this.jpg)you can throw it at the alligator and distract it while you run away. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![PurpleClogs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f04885/32.png) [@PurpleClogs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PurpleClogs)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-idea-or-bad-idea/652419/46 "2013-03-28T00:15:27Z")
While the county/parish may allow feeding… Parks, wildlife refuges, etc will forbid it. So you’d have to be on private property. But it’s unwise either way. ---
**Author:** ![panaccione](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/94ad74/32.png) [@panaccione](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panaccione)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-idea-or-bad-idea/652419/47 "2013-03-28T00:24:21Z")
You’ll never know until you try. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-idea-or-bad-idea/652419/48 "2013-03-28T00:42:45Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > [A tiny kitten might help a bit -](http://www.yserasdaughter.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Its_dangerous_to_go_alone_Take_this.jpg)you can throw it at the alligator and distract it while you run away. 😃 A very good idea. [Alligators are very afraid of cats](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_29k6dJ6DA) and will retreat back into the water. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-idea-or-bad-idea/652419/49 "2013-03-28T03:27:38Z")
“Cats be crazy, man.” ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-idea-or-bad-idea/652419/50 "2013-03-28T22:10:24Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > If you manage to stay away from those, don’t go near a nutria (giant, nasty rodents and an invasive species). They can kill a full-grown dog and they don’t like people either. > . Interesting. I had absolutely no clue that they could be agressive or dangerous (they crossed the Atlantic long ago and found European rivers to their taste) ---
**Author:** ![ioioio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ioioio/32/316_2.png) [@ioioio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ioioio)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-idea-or-bad-idea/652419/51 "2013-03-28T22:35:28Z")
> [@e.fred](#): > > I am going to Louisiana and I am wondering how dangerous alligators really are. I plan on going scuba diving in the swamps there looking for frogs and lizards for my aquarium. **Everyone says its a bad idea** and that the alligators can kill me, but I dont think they would attack a person and anyways they just sit there looking out of the water. Also how fast can they run and swim. Thanks for help Bolding mine. One of the great pieces of wisdom I’ve picked up in my life is that when everyone says something is a bad idea, it’s a bad idea. I like your spunk, **e.fred**. You’ll be missed. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2013, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-idea-or-bad-idea/652419/52 "2013-03-29T01:37:09Z")
That’s the kinda bad idea that makes other bad ideas feel a bit better about themselves. ---
**Author:** ![expectopatronum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/expectopatronum/32/173_2.png) [@expectopatronum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/expectopatronum)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2013, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-idea-or-bad-idea/652419/53 "2013-03-29T01:42:13Z")
> [@echo7tango](#): > > In Sunday’s episode of 60 Minutes, Anderson Cooper went scuba diving with Nile alligators. He said one key is going when the water temps are cool. When warmer, the gators are faster and tend to attack more. Check it out. nitpick: those are crocodiles. gators are only native to the u.s. and china. the alligator/cat video kinda pisses me off. sure, it turned out funny, but it’s just luck that the gator didn’t swallow that cat whole (not to mention the kids that were running around). ---
**Author:** ![JBDivmstr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b4bc9f/32.png) [@JBDivmstr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JBDivmstr)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2013, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-idea-or-bad-idea/652419/54 "2013-03-29T07:47:10Z")
> [@expectopatronum](#): > > nitpick: those are crocodiles. gators are only native to the u.s. and china. > > the alligator/cat video kinda pisses me off. sure, it turned out funny, but it’s just luck that the gator didn’t swallow that cat whole (not to mention the kids that were running around). Did you stop to think that the gators in that video were VERY ‘familiar’ with people? If I had to guess, and from watching the video, it looks like those alligators, were in fact, ‘residents’ of that particular place, and extremely used to people and the associated happenings that took place. I would also hazard to guess that those gators were probably fed on a regular basis, by the people that ran that business. (It certainly _ **looked** _ like a business. As in, a ‘take a ride in a swamp boat and see the wildlife’ type of business. ---
**Author:** ![expectopatronum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/expectopatronum/32/173_2.png) [@expectopatronum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/expectopatronum)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2013, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-idea-or-bad-idea/652419/55 "2013-03-29T21:17:27Z")
did you stop to think that no matter how used to people they are, there is no such thing as a domesticated gator and letting your child and animal so close to it (while the cat is provoking it) is an extremely poor idea? ---
**Author:** ![JBDivmstr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b4bc9f/32.png) [@JBDivmstr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JBDivmstr)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2013, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-idea-or-bad-idea/652419/56 "2013-03-30T01:17:30Z")
> [@expectopatronum](#): > > did you stop to think that no matter how used to people they are, there is no such thing as a domesticated gator and letting your child and animal so close to it (while the cat is provoking it) is an extremely poor idea? I wasn’t implying that the actions filmed were a good idea, just that the actions being filmed were probably something that happens on an everyday basis, there. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2013, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-idea-or-bad-idea/652419/57 "2013-03-30T04:31:48Z")
> [@expectopatronum](#): > > did you stop to think that no matter how used to people they are, there is no such thing as a domesticated gator and letting your child and animal so close to it (while the cat is provoking it) is an extremely poor idea? You probably only have to lose one or two cats and/or kids before they stop doing it. ---
**Author:** ![JBDivmstr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b4bc9f/32.png) [@JBDivmstr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JBDivmstr)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2013, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-idea-or-bad-idea/652419/58 "2013-03-30T17:37:45Z")
We can only hope! ---
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2016, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-idea-or-bad-idea/652419/59 "2016-03-21T22:42:39Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > If the potion wards off everything in the swamp, how will you get the frogs you seek? > > 😕 Well, there’s another potent potion, ya see, that counteracts the effects of the first one, just in the froggies. It all makes perfect sense! ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-idea-or-bad-idea/652419/60 "2016-03-22T06:13:56Z")
I’m wholly unsurprised (Batman) that the OP has not returned to report on his experiences in frog-gathering. I wonder what the delay is… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-idea-or-bad-idea/652419.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-idea-or-bad-idea/652419.md?page=4)