Alligators??

[ss20ts]

Originally Posted by brandon hoffman

probably transplants.

rofl....

[ss20ts]

Leave em alone and they'll leave you alone. They don't eat much. Kinda cute little buggers.

[Moving From Kentucky]

I recently moved to Columbia one month ago but, have vacationed here for nine years. Don't let anyone fool you, there are alligators in Columbia. Ask any of the Fish and Wild Life people with state government. We did. All you have to do is walk along the River Walk Park in downtown Columbia (just a few blocks from the state capital) and you will see signs asking you to beware of the alligators. Infact, channel 10 located in Columbia have shown pictures of alligators in the canal. Now there may not be as many as on the coast but, they are here and I would beware anytime your around water to be on the safe side.

Also,my father lived in Lake Charles Louisiana for twenty years and it gets much colder there in the winter than it does here in Columbia and they have all sorts of alligators there. New Orleans is the same and it also get much colder there in the winter than it does here.

[waccamatt]

Originally Posted by Moving From Kentucky

I recently moved to Columbia one month ago but, have vacationed here for nine years. Don't let anyone fool you, there are alligators in Columbia. Ask any of the Fish and Wild Life people with state government. We did. All you have to do is walk along the River Walk Park in downtown Columbia (just a few blocks from the state capital) and you will see signs asking you to beware of the alligators. Infact, channel 10 located in Columbia have shown pictures of alligators in the canal. Now there may not be as many as on the coast but, they are here and I would beware anytime your around water to be on the safe side.

Also,my father lived in Lake Charles Louisiana for twenty years and it gets much colder there in the winter than it does here in Columbia and they have all sorts of alligators there. New Orleans is the same and it also get much colder there in the winter than it does here.

There are very few alligators in Columbia as it is further north and further west than their typical habitat. There are 3 gators that live in the Congaree River next to Riverfront Park, but there haven't been any incidents with them. There was also a report of one in Lake Murray a few years ago, but it probably didn't survive its first winter. With all due respect, Columbia has a much colder climate than does Lake Charles. The all-time record low at the Columbia NWS office is -2 with a January average of 44 degrees. The all-time low temperature in Lake Charles is 11 degrees (it gets that cold in Columbia at least once every other winter or so) and the January average temperature in Lake Charles is 51.

[rugratref]

When I lived in OK there wasn't "suppose" to be any gators there either..however, I knew people personally that brought baby gators to OK from La. and turned them loose in the Red River...so guess what? OK now has gators! Crazy people...

[Brandon Hoffman]

Originally Posted by Moving From Kentucky

I recently moved to Columbia one month ago but, have vacationed here for nine years. Don't let anyone fool you, there are alligators in Columbia. Ask any of the Fish and Wild Life people with state government. We did. All you have to do is walk along the River Walk Park in downtown Columbia (just a few blocks from the state capital) and you will see signs asking you to beware of the alligators. Infact, channel 10 located in Columbia have shown pictures of alligators in the canal. Now there may not be as many as on the coast but, they are here and I would beware anytime your around water to be on the safe side.

Also,my father lived in Lake Charles Louisiana for twenty years and it gets much colder there in the winter than it does here in Columbia and they have all sorts of alligators there. New Orleans is the same and it also get much colder there in the winter than it does here.

Go back and read the thread and it will answer questions. And if you want references I worked for DNR back in the day, I'm from Columbia, and I taught environmental education for 5 years and had 2 alligators that were both farm raised we used for our programs. I've probably forgotten more about alligators than most people around the state know. And if you really want something funny, I've been bitten 2x by alligators! Baby gator of course so no harm done.

[ranger17]

Originally Posted by Brandon Hoffman

And if you really want something funny, I've been bitten 2x by alligators!

uh Brandon, I believe the posted signs read:

"Please do not feed the animals".

[LexingtonDad]

And if you really want something funny, I've been bitten 2x by alligators!

Have you ever heard the saying "got me once shame on you, got me twice shame on me"?

Just asking.

[Brandon Hoffman]

It was a captive alligator when I was giving environmental education programs, both about a foot long but 2 different ones. The first time I was demonstrating to about 60 interns how to hold an alligator and I put my finger to close to it's mouth and wasn't paying attention. It felt like being pricked by a pen. Didn't hurt at all. I was happy because for about 2 years I had been wondering what it feel like to get bit. The second time was similar except it was while showing to the alligator to a group of kids around 6-8 years olds. I guess that's not too bad considering over 5 years I probably did this program around 500 times or so. The few times I handled bigger ones I was more careful.