Storytellers: Colorado’s scaliest sunbathers soak up the rays in the mountains near Mosca when it snows

Colorado is home to a number of fierce and fearsome creatures. But when the weather takes a nasty turn, we all want a warm place to wait it out.

MOSCA, Colo. — Colorado is home to a number of fierce and fearsome creatures. But when the weather takes a nasty turn, we all want a warm place to wait it out.

When fresh powder falls in Colorado, few can resist the urge to soak up the sun. But some sunbathers in the San Luis Valley crave the sun’s warm rays.

“Haha, you’re eating the snow. You goofball,” said Jay Young, general manager at Colorado Gators.

Young spends his day catching the rays with his friends at Colorado Gators, making sure they don’t miss a meal.

While the mountains in Mosca may not be the usual alligator hangout, the gators living here have their own sauna to simmer in even on the coldest of Colorado days.

“The water comes from an 87-degree geothermal well. It’s why my parents picked this location for the tilapia farm, was because access to geothermal water,” Young said. “Water is 87 degrees year-round. So even when it’s 20 or 30 below zero here, the alligators and the fish are just fine.”

Even the old-timers can’t resist those toasty temps.

“This is Elvis, he’s one of our original alligators. We’ve had him since 1987,” Young said.

Young said they first got gators like Elvis to be both pets and garbage disposals at their fish farm.

“As they grew, people wanted to see them and then next thing we knew Denver Zoo called and said, “We have a couple alligators we can’t house anymore, can you take them?” Sure, so we took their alligators. And then Denver Police called and said, “Hey, we just confiscated some alligators from somebody’s home, can you take ’em?” Sure,” Young said. “Now we get them from New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Albuquerque, all over the country.”

Young said that geothermal well on the property keeps the water and Elvis’ anger hot.

But some close-by ponds aren’t connected to the heat.

So, when cold comes in, the gator search begins.

“We’re looking for alligators in the ice,” Young said, pointing to the snow- and ice-covered ponds.

It’s a quest that’s routine for Young and his workers, Liam, Conlin Greer, Andrew Mitchell and Matt Jordan.

“Every year, we move alligators from the colder ponds to the warmer ponds in the fall but they’re very elusive, especially in the reeds,” Young said. “And they’re fine in their natural range — in North Carolina, Arkansas, Missouri, there’s places they’ll freeze in the ice for a week or two and be fine. Here, it gets so cold for so long, that if we leave them in the pond, they could die.”

So the team searches until one is spotted, pulling the gator out of the frigid waters. The cold weather leaves gators lethargic.

“I found the one in the other pond finally and it is frozen in the ice,” Young said.

This cold sends sniffers to the water’s tip top.

“A lot of times what they’ll do when the pond starts to freeze over, they’ll come up and keep a nose hole in the ice,” Young said.

The swap from cold to warm water ponds is a gator lifesaver.

“I got her by the nose,” Young said, grabbing onto the gator’s body. “Alright Conlin, get under her. Get under her, pick her up.”

It takes a mighty yank and some teamwork to get this gal the prescription she craves.

“Oh, you’re a good gator,” said Matt Jordan, holding onto the gator now safely out of the water.

“You’re okay,” Young said, patting the gator’s back.

The sunshine and warm water acts like a solar panel on her back, warming her up.

“She’s wanting to bite. It’s a good sign,” Young said. “She’s a good girl, aren’t ya. Yes, you are.”

Soon, she’s ready to rejoin her cold-blooded friends. Her snap comes back as she slips back into the water and away from the bite of Colorado cold.

“They didn’t live 200 million years by being dumb,” Young said.

Young said they now have more than 200 rescues along with their original alligators at Colorado Gators.

No matter the season, these guys get the good life in Mosca with warm water, lots of fish and alligator chow. Young said people in the area will even clean out their freezers, donating meat to the alligators to chomp down on.