General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsNope. Nope. Nope. Never going to Florida.
Link to tweet
Matt Devitt
@MattDevittWINK
HUGE FLORIDA GATOR! 🐊👀 Yep, this monster is real. Caught on camera during Hurricane #Eta in Naples. Credit: Jeff Jones @WINKNews
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Binkie The Clown
(7,911 posts)NightWatcher
(39,343 posts)They're mostly harmless.
robbob
(3,527 posts)And raised it until it was over 5 feet in length. They are totally harmless as long as they are not hungry. His cats used to go rub against the gators snout; they liked the rough skin. But never EVER when the beast was ready for a meal. They could sense it!
EndlessWire
(6,514 posts)I ain't never gonna live in Florida. Toddler boy, pet dogs, gone...I prefer coyotes, tarantulas, snakes, and Republicans as my terror triggers.
And, don't they have huge boa constrictors, or something?
csziggy
(34,136 posts)So don't feel left out.
If you don't buy water front property, you'd probably never see a gator. I grew up next to a city park that had been a swamp and was dredged out to make it a lake. There were gators in that lake but we seldom saw them. We worried more about cotton mouth moccasins since they are mean bastards. One killed my dog when I was six.
My farm is at the top of a ridge and we have seen an alligator here. It was a young one, only about four feet long. It was probably moving from the swamp to our west to the swamp to our east (or vice versa). Once it traveled through that was it. We do have coyotes and a black bear that lives down in the swamp.
Down in the Everglades they have big pythons that got loose during Hurricane Andrew. With global warming, they are moving northwards but they will take a while to get up here to the Florida Panhandle.
As a native Floridian, I will not own waterfront property, either freshwater or beach front. The swamp down in our woods is bad enough, but that is well away from the house.
Buns_of_Fire
(17,175 posts)I think a certain golf course near Palm Beach would be an appropriate location.
GulfCoast66
(11,949 posts)That is not already full of gators.
Plus he is totally in his element. Thats a pond behind him. They live in every body of water down here. From retention ponds, ditches and small creeks.
If there is a body of water you always assume there is a gator in it.
Yavin4
(35,437 posts)Probably the most unhealthy meal on the planet.
Duppers
(28,120 posts)johnp3907
(3,730 posts)Oh wait....
Chipper Chat
(9,678 posts)I needed this laugh!
Chipper Chat
(9,678 posts)I once saw a gator jump out of the water and grab my neighbor's poodle off the dock and eat it. Amazing reptiles.
coeur_de_lion
(3,676 posts)like a retention pond in your back yard, a small lake, rivers, golf course ponds, etc is subject to being overtaken by gators.
Residents here know better than to walk their dogs or allow their children near small bodies of water never mind large ones. The Gulf is safe from gators but nowhere else is.
Just a fact of life here.
obamanut2012
(26,068 posts)OriginalGeek
(12,132 posts)we assume there are gators in anything bigger than a mud puddle.
I used golf at a course in Kissimmee that had a resident gator in one of the water hazards. He left us alone and we scooted by on carts as fast as they would go just in case.
Phoenix61
(17,003 posts)Gulf from time to time.
coeur_de_lion
(3,676 posts)since I moved here in 1995.
Phoenix61
(17,003 posts)coeur_de_lion
(3,676 posts)That would be awful.
Phoenix61
(17,003 posts)coeur_de_lion
(3,676 posts)going into the water.
Phoenix61
(17,003 posts)no one would ever get in the water. Locals know not to go out past the second sand bar.
cwydro
(51,308 posts)I lived in the Keys for years, and never saw either there. I remember reports of one or the other around Big Pine Key once.
Phoenix61
(17,003 posts)the gulf. Doesnt happen often but gets everyones attention.
cwydro
(51,308 posts)Seeing them in the Everglades showed me that these were some critters I intended to give the utmost respect lol...and a wide berth.
cwydro
(51,308 posts)Phoenix61
(17,003 posts)Hortensis
(58,785 posts)two sides of the 1/3 acre our ancient winter mobile home is on and wraps around our little neighborhood. As it is, our covered patio is only 25 feet from the water; and as for the lawn (mowed green stuff) to the water, I never hang out in one place regularly, like reading in the swing the former owners hung between palms at the water's edge. No. Someone told me he once saw a large gator pacing one of them as she strolled along the water.
Blue_true
(31,261 posts)is to keep both gators and people out of them, if the water is fresh and the pond isnt a treated sewage water drain pond (in that case, gators wont live in them, but water birds may if they are fresh enough).
GulfCoast66
(11,949 posts)They live on the coastal islands where there is fresh water but will venture in the bay to hunt fish.
DonaldsRump
(7,715 posts)Sorry, Florida DU'ers! Nothing personal (except as it relates to Trump!)
Clearly fogged in
(1,896 posts)They have us outnumbered, but that makes the thin-skinned easy picking for me.
ms liberty
(8,573 posts)Unlike copperheads, which will bite you when you step on them hiding in leaves.
Disclaimer...I grew up on the gulf coast of Fla. Rarely saw a gator, unless I was canoeing on the Hillsborough or Alafia River (pronounced "ala-fi"
My Pet Orangutan
(9,241 posts)Yavin4
(35,437 posts)lindysalsagal
(20,678 posts)mnhtnbb
(31,384 posts)where these monstrous gators are seen ambling across the fairways.
The orange one is known to hit into the rough and then cheat by dropping his ball on the edge of the fairway. I keep hoping one of these guys will scuttle out of the woods and deliver justice to him for all his years of cheating at golf.
cwydro
(51,308 posts)They frequently appeared on the Disney courses, probably still do.
mitch96
(13,895 posts)There were warning signs around but you know kids. I don't remember where the parents were but they were distraught...
We use to canoe down the Peace River and had a few encounter with gators.. Same in the Shark river valley in the Everglades... I don't do pre historic creatures well... YMMV
m
cwydro
(51,308 posts)Horrifying.
csziggy
(34,136 posts)It's been very dry and the river was very low. Since my sister hunts for fossils, it was a perfect opportunity. They came on a big log across the river and got out of the canoe to portage over it - then my brother in law realized it was NOT a log! It was a massive alligator just hanging out in the sun. BIL had already put one leg over the tail. He waved my sister to back up and carefully lifted his leg back.
They did not complete their trip down the Peace River that day as one trip. They carried the canoe up the bank and took the long way around the gator to get back to the water.
I grew up in Bartow so I was a little familiar with that part of the Peace River.
mitch96
(13,895 posts)We had tee shirts made.. "I walked the Peace River".... I think it was the same company that made the "I climbed Mt Dora" tee's.... Besides the gators the fricken cotton mouth's dropping into the canoe will ruin a perfectly good afternoon.
Had lots of fun on the Peace river. We did the Zolfo springs to Arcadia route. Great fun..
Long time ago in a far away place...
m
csziggy
(34,136 posts)Now I live near Lake Miccosukee, one of the best gator hunting lakes in North Florida. best story about that lake, personally experienced.
My husband and I went down to the lake to get pictures one afternoon. There was someone, I kid you not, water skiing on the lake. He'd go down and while the boat was coming back around for him to take another pass, we could see gator eyes appear above the waterline and start cruising towards the water skier. We were sort of placing bets on who'd reach the guy in the water first, the gators or the boat.
For a while we had a 16 foot canoe. We took it out on the lake exactly once. I swear I saw a gator longer than our canoe and never wanted to go back out on that lake again. Soon after I badly injured a shoulder which had to be rebuilt, so I had a good excuse to not go canoeing again. We gave the canoe to our niece and nephew and they take their three boys out in the canoe all the time. Last storm to hit Panama City, their facebook page had a shot of the canoe floating in their living room.
mitch96
(13,895 posts)My friend use to visit a lot years ago and I kinda sorta ran out of things to do when he came down. You can only go to Key West but so many times.. Anyhoo I thought canoeing down the Loxahatchee in Palm Beach county would be fun. Long story short we came upon a momma gator and I decided it was time to boggie out of there. My friend having NO canoe experience started paddling like crazy when momma got up on her legs and LOOKED right at us. Problem was he kept on putting the paddle in on the wrong side and was pushing the front of the canoe TWARDS the gator. I'm trying to counter act his paddling in the back.. Needless to say the gator gods were smiling on us and we got away unscathed.. We had a big laugh after that but I was a wee bit worried for a bit..
m
csziggy
(34,136 posts)My parents used to drag relatives to Tampa to Ybor City, Busch Gardens (before they added all the theme park shit, just the gardens and the brewery), and the Columbia restaurant.
Closer to where we lived was Bok Tower, The Great Masterpiece (a mosaic tile reproduction of the Last Supper), and Cypress Gardens.
Of course, that was before Disney was built.
Tommy_Carcetti
(43,177 posts)Seriously though, alligators are awesome. Living dinosaurs. I get excited whenever I see one in the lake behind our house, although it's pretty rare (only about once a year on average).
Just give them their space, keep your pets on a leash and your small kids away from the water, and enjoy.
My favorite gator is Hunchback, the 15 footer at the Circle B Preserve in Lakeland. I actually did see him when I went there, but only from afar, not like this:
Hermit-The-Prog
(33,328 posts)Blue_true
(31,261 posts)its territory.
cwydro
(51,308 posts)I saw some behemoths from my canoe.
Remember one submerging in 5 Mile Pond as we neared, and we could hear its back scraping under the boat. Scared the crap out of me.
GulfCoast66
(11,949 posts)cwydro
(51,308 posts)I was young then, and fearless.
Probably piss myself now.
BusyBeingBest
(8,052 posts)FakeNoose
(32,634 posts)Where's my foursome?!
Wicked Blue
(5,831 posts)There's a nice place for alligators to hang around over in Palm Beach. It's called Mar-A-Lago. Lots of tasty stuff to eat.
Renew Deal
(81,856 posts)Whatever it wants
coti
(4,612 posts)And it kind of is!
ProfessorGAC
(65,001 posts)Yeah, I took that from the chase scene in The Sandlot!
csziggy
(34,136 posts)Poiuyt
(18,122 posts)The giant pythons will take care of them