# I hate to ask, but New Orleans - and alligators? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 2, 2005, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-to-ask-but-new-orleans-and-alligators/319703 "2005-09-02T04:37:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2005, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-to-ask-but-new-orleans-and-alligators/319703/21 "2005-09-02T15:19:46Z")
> [@zoogirl](#): > > We’ve got a seven-footer at work amd trust me, she’s tough! Her skin is very thick. I’ve seen her defecate in her water and then climb in quite happily. If this wasn’t about a 'gator, it’d be one heck of a cow-orker Pit post. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2005, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-to-ask-but-new-orleans-and-alligators/319703/22 "2005-09-02T15:56:19Z")
> [@zoogirl](#): > > They like carrion too. Not to be gruesome, but I think the alligators are more likey to go after the easy meals than to hunt. Not that they won’t hunt, but unfortunately there’s plenty of carrion. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2005, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-to-ask-but-new-orleans-and-alligators/319703/23 "2005-09-02T16:03:17Z")
They were just saying on MSNBC that there are problems with the water being full of gators and snakes. _shudder_ Don’t they also carry disease? Yuck. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2005, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-to-ask-but-new-orleans-and-alligators/319703/24 "2005-09-02T16:12:28Z")
Let’s say for a moment that gators start swimming in the streets of New Orleans. Would they eat the half-rotted corpses of people who have been dead for the better part of a week? Or do they prefer to kill their prey? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2005, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-to-ask-but-new-orleans-and-alligators/319703/25 "2005-09-02T16:20:27Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Let’s say for a moment that gators start swimming in the streets of New Orleans. Would they eat the half-rotted corpses of people who have been dead for the better part of a week? Or do they prefer to kill their prey? I’m not a bilogist, but I’ve _heard_ that alligators often will kill their prey and store them underwater to let them ‘age’. ---
**Author:** ![lorinada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b5e925/32.png) [@lorinada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lorinada)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2005, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-to-ask-but-new-orleans-and-alligators/319703/26 "2005-09-02T16:26:33Z")
Well, they are out there swimming the streets of NO because I’ve already seen news footage of them…but how much of a real danger they are is beyond my limited knowledge of gators. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2005, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-to-ask-but-new-orleans-and-alligators/319703/27 "2005-09-02T16:42:57Z")
I meant to say ‘biologist’. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2005, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-to-ask-but-new-orleans-and-alligators/319703/28 "2005-09-02T16:43:07Z")
Guin, off the top of my head I cannot think of any general disease caused by just having gators around in the water (nor snakes). I can think of other reasons why they are dangerous, namely they can kill people with teeth or venom, respectively. I guess people surviving a bite from a gator have to worry about possible bacterial infections, but that is true for all animal bites. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2005, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-to-ask-but-new-orleans-and-alligators/319703/29 "2005-09-02T17:11:39Z")
> [@Johnny L.A.](#): > > Not to be gruesome, but I think the alligators are more likey to go after the easy meals than to hunt. Not that they won’t hunt, but unfortunately there’s plenty of carrion. I believe you are right. Alligators are not even close to being as dangerous to humans as their cousins, the crocodile. Alliagtor attacks on humans are very rare and evn then, they tend to go after small children. I used to swim in Louisiana water within site of alligators without much concern. I even knew a guy that had a full grown alligator as a pet that would come on command into his house. Now water moccasins are nasty little beasts and fire ants probably represent the biggest threat to life and health of them all. ---
**Author:** ![sturmhauke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@sturmhauke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sturmhauke)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2005, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-to-ask-but-new-orleans-and-alligators/319703/30 "2005-09-02T17:39:06Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > I even knew a guy that had a full grown alligator as a pet that would come on command into his house. Dude, that’s freaky. Was he secretly an Orc Hunter from World of Warcraft? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2005, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-to-ask-but-new-orleans-and-alligators/319703/31 "2005-09-02T17:46:31Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > I even knew a guy that had a full grown alligator as a pet that would come on command into his house. Would it fetch the mail(man), too? ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2005, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-to-ask-but-new-orleans-and-alligators/319703/32 "2005-09-02T18:14:25Z")
[Here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=323854&highlight=alligator) is an earlier thread on alligators and where they live. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2005, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-to-ask-but-new-orleans-and-alligators/319703/33 "2005-09-02T18:19:33Z")
There was an article in today’s paper about a Chevron refinery that they’re hoping to restart soon once they get it all drained out and inspected, and they were saying that there were gators in the control room as well as outside around the tanks. ---
**Author:** ![Hombre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecb155/32.png) [@Hombre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hombre)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2005, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-to-ask-but-new-orleans-and-alligators/319703/34 "2005-09-03T00:57:01Z")
Having waterskied in Texas bayous with both, water moccasins were by far the bigger problem. ---
**Author:** ![sturmhauke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@sturmhauke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sturmhauke)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2005, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-to-ask-but-new-orleans-and-alligators/319703/35 "2005-09-03T07:09:27Z")
> [@gotpasswords](#): > > There was an article in today’s paper about a Chevron refinery that they’re hoping to restart soon once they get it all drained out and inspected, and they were saying that there were gators in the control room as well as outside around the tanks. Somehow, that strikes me as tragically funny. ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2005, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-to-ask-but-new-orleans-and-alligators/319703/36 "2005-09-03T07:23:23Z")
On the radio here in Orlando, they had one of the top gator guys in the country (he works at the Gatorland theme park), and his basic take was: yes, the gators will be an issue, but the Water Moccasins and Cottonmouths will be worse. ---
**Author:** ![zagloba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/977dab/32.png) [@zagloba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zagloba)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2005, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-to-ask-but-new-orleans-and-alligators/319703/37 "2005-09-03T13:03:43Z")
In an interview with Charmain Neville, of the Neville musical family, she talks about alligators in New Orleans already eating corpses. Scroll down to the featured videos. It’s a horrific story, but worth your time: [http://www.wafb.com/](http://www.wafb.com/) ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2005, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-to-ask-but-new-orleans-and-alligators/319703/38 "2005-09-03T15:49:09Z")
> [@KarlGrenze](#): > > Guin, off the top of my head I cannot think of any general disease caused by just having gators around in the water (nor snakes). I can think of other reasons why they are dangerous, namely they can kill people with teeth or venom, respectively. > > I guess people surviving a bite from a gator have to worry about possible bacterial infections, but that is true for all animal bites. I always understood that reptiles were carriers of salmonella. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2005, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-to-ask-but-new-orleans-and-alligators/319703/39 "2005-09-03T15:55:13Z")
> [@gotpasswords](#): > > There was an article in today’s paper about a Chevron refinery… and they were saying that there were gators in the control room as well… Not to mention rats and cockroaches in the boardroom! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2005, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-to-ask-but-new-orleans-and-alligators/319703/40 "2005-09-03T23:26:25Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > I always understood that reptiles were carriers of salmonella. Guin, my memory was that it referred to the pet turtles and pet lizards, but LSU is doing some studies in that regard and hasn’t been able to come up with a source of the salmonella. Not in their egg shells, not in them when they are born. There’s also the possibility that it might be what they eat and how is their environment in the ranches where they live pre-selling them. I don’t think I’ve read of alligators specifically as carriers of salmonella. And again… there are other bacteria you have to worry about if you get (and survive) a gator bite. Note: Salmonella could well be already in the environment, but seeing the state of the water in New Orleans, I don’t think that is the gators’ fault. 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-to-ask-but-new-orleans-and-alligators/319703.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-to-ask-but-new-orleans-and-alligators/319703.md?page=3)