Day Nine Hundred and Fifty-Six

The Swamp People

Welcome to the swamp. 

Where alligators are friends and chickens are delicacies. 

We took an airboat your through the bayou. We're true Lousianians now.

Our guide taught us all about an allugatuh's favorite meal: marshmallows. Fitting, I'd say. 

Adam petted one of these boys. If petting is the word you'd use? And calling the gator a boy is a bit presumptuous too....

Because fact: you can't tell the sex of a gator without sticking your finger up some hole in their body. Truth. I'm not being gross. 

This dude is 6 months. 

His unassuming look is dangerous. He'll snap hold of your fingers if you're not careful. That's why Adam was holding his neck. 

Alligator whisperer? 

And all this time I thought he wanted a dog?

This is a nutria rat. They're indigenous to South Africa. NOT Louisiana. Quickly, these nasty beaver-looking rats are destroying Louisiana vegetation, levees, and bridges. They're also, as I finally discovered yesterday, the mascot of the Zephyrs. And they really do have orange teeth. Uh.

Truth about these critters: Louisiana will give you FIVE DOLLARS per nutria rat tail (to get the tail, you have to kill the rat). And in March, we were invited to join the swamp people for a week of shotgunning and whack-a-moling these pests for money. Let's get us some rat tails! 

Happy happy swampy Conleys.