It's Easter in August as life begins anew at a popular old-Florida attraction. Along the shores of Lake Okeechobee is where you can become a midwife to a baby alligator.

"Come 'mere buddy. That guy right there is an alligator,” said Ben Register after tossing a chunk of chicken into the mouth of an 8-foot-long alligator. The third generation alligator farmer is leaning over a railing at Gatorama while educating a standing room only crowd of onlookers just off U.S. 27.

Feeding an alligator is in the wild is prohibited. Getting close to the reptiles is best left to professionals like Ben. But what if you could safely snuggle a gator, just a little younger?

"We make sure we keep that egg in the same position throughout the entire incubation period, which is 65 days,” explains Allen Register, Ben’s father.

At their Palmdale home each summer, the Registers need help birthing more than 2,500 baby gators during the Hatching Festival.  In 2014, a new barn replaces the former hatching tent.  No afternoon showers will prevent folks from getting their chance to birth baby gators.  Also new for 2014 is an expansion to the egg incubator, allowing the Registers to warm more eggs, and thus, allowing more folks to become parents.

“It was fun. Even though part of the egg was gooey and mushy,” admits homeschooler Emily Grainger from East Orlando.

Visitors like Emily are given an egg and by peeling back the shell, help baby gators enter the world.

“Seeing the awe moment that kids get when they see that alligator emerge from the egg,” said Patty Register, Ben’s mother and Allen’s wife.

“I named him Everglades,” said a proud Emily while holding her new friend.

Relax. When hatched, the baby alligators have no teeth and are happy to sit in your hand. 

“No wonder when I touched his mouth, he did not snap at me!” Emily exclaims when she learns that the gators only have a little external tooth on their chin, used for aiding while breaking from their egg.

After about 10 minutes of "cuddle time," each participant must return their gator.  No baby gators are going home with visitors (and bathtubs across the state are safer for it).   But, we leave something behind in return.

It's tradition when Florida on a Tankful visits Gatorama that Scott Fais feeds the biggest alligator the biggest hamburger he can find at a drive-thru on U.S. 27. Last time, a giant gator named Rambo was the winner. Unfortunately, Rambo has since gone to the big swamp in the sky.

“Meet, Rambo Junior!” Scott said while helping to birth a baby gator. “There you go buddy, have a big bite.”

"Once they get up to 3 or 4 feet long, they are the king of the swamp,” Allen admits, saying these gators will not be so kind towards a human looking to snuggle up.

Where do the babies go next? Some will end up in the Gatorama lagoon, just outside the Register’s family room. While others will be served up as nuggets or ribs on a grill.

As for Rambo Jr., Patty said he is safe in a tank on display in the Gatorama gift shop.

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