MOSCA, Colo. — Many Colorado natives have heard of Colorado Gators Reptile Park, a wildlife sanctuary that is home to more than 100 alligators.
The south-central part of the Centennial State doesn't sound like the best place for gators to reside, especially when temps dip below freezing like they did the past few days. However, the park located in Mosca north of Alamosa is a gator oasis. News5 sent one of our photographers Ryan Mutch to the park during the arctic blast earlier this week.
"Alligators are one of the most adaptable of reptiles," the owner of Colorado Gators Reptile Park Jay Young explained. "While a lot of reptiles do need to stay warm, they're all poikilothermic, the body temperature changes with their environment."
Jay added that a gator in the Carolinas was once frozen solid and had no problem living its life after it thawed. However, the gators at his park don't have to worry about ice even in Colorado.
"We actually have a geothermal well," Jay said of his property in Mosca. "That's why my parents picked this location, originally for the tilapia farm in 1977, access to geothermal water."
Jay explained the well is 2,000 feet deep at the water temperature hovers around 87 degrees year-round.
Watch The Full Interview: Owner and Operator Jay Young Talks Care For Alligators In Sub-Zero Temperatures
"Which means, right now, the alligators here are warmer than the ones in Florida currently because the water temperature in Florida is in the 40s and water temperatures here are in the 60s to 70s," Jay said on Monday.
Mosca also has an elevation of 7,500 feet, meaning there is greater solar potential according to Jay which helps his gators while they sunbathe.
The sub-zero temps don't keep the tourists away either.
"It's shocking how many people show up in a blizzard and they want to see the animals," Jay said with a smile. "It was part of their itinerary. They're going to stop anyway and check it out so they're crazier than we are."
But Mosca isn't the perfect environment for gators.
"It's very easy not to hatch alligators in Colorado," Jay explained. "If we want to hatch them, we have to take the eggs from the nest and put them in incubators. If we leave them in the nest, they'll perish within a few hours. It's too cold in Colorado, even in the summertime at night, for alligator eggs to survive in the nest. It's also very dry here. They need constant heat and humidity, so there is a zero percent chance of alligators hatching here if we don't want them to."
During News5's visit, we also had the chance to see the new reptile house. In April of 20223, a devastating fire killed birds, lizards, turtles, snakes, and cats.
"We're taking in new rescues, and have rebounded," Jay said of the fire. "Not without the help of our fans and partners, and you know, our followers came out of the woodwork and really supported us and our community really supported us and helped us through that, and we couldn't do it without our great help from the community."
When Jay built the new reptile house, he used the environment to his advantage.
Watch: How 100+ Alligators Survive Sub-Zero Temps In Colorado
"Part of the design of the new reptile house was using the geothermal water in the floor to heat the building from the floor up," Jay said. "So that has been a tremendous help with keeping all of the all of the smaller habitats and the tortoises and everybody a lot warmer."
Rain, snow, or blistering hot temps, Jay's park stays open all year round with the exception of Thanksgiving and Christmas. For more on the park, click here.
One person dead following shooting in King Soopers parking lot Monday afternoon
One person is dead following a shooting in the parking lot of the King Soopers on Stetson Hills Boulevard, according to the Colorado Springs Police Department.
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