[grammy164]

Jammie, I live on the water in central Florida. We have lots of gators. Often I've seen them sunning on the shore in my backyard. Even when they were doing this, I could take my dog out back and they wouldn't move. They've never bothered anybody or anything here. I enjoy watching them. They're a part of Florida and if you move here, I'll think you'll grow to love every part of Florida too.
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[florigidge]

lived in florida nearly all my life and never had a nasty encounter with a gator. in fact, growing up in miami, i don't recall ever seeing one outside of the crandon park zoo (which was eventually moved to the new zoo in west dade, metro zoo).

however, once i moved to gainesville, i saw a lot of them (and as a UF alum, AND a gator, i think you know i'm talking about the real ones....LOL). lake alice on campus has gators and signs warning you about feeding them....and lake alice is right across the street from housing and just a block or so away from baby gator nursery school (all on campus).

there's a humongous alligator who lives in a dead looking pond behind one of the other buildings on campus. i didn't even know the pond existed since i'd never had any reason to be in that area of campus. but i was working a temp job a few years ago and saw the pond behind the building - and what has to be the biggest meanest gator i think i've ever seen in my life. there is a bike/pedestrian path that leads around the pond and you could often see this gator sunning himself. god, he's big!

also, when gainesville flooded several years ago (pre-recent hurricanes), paynes prairie flooded so badly that gators lined both sides of 441. it was tragic because cars could not avoid hitting some of them. the fish and game service had to cordone off the road to one lane in some spots. photos of this made the national news.

afterwards, when the water receded the gators went back into the prairie but a great deal of them took up residence just beyond the retention pond on the west. i was like a free gator tourist stop. i would often go (and others too) and stand on the retaining wall just to watch them for a few minutes. it was fantastic. one wasn't particularly in danger unless you jumped the wall and waded across the canal to the gators and banged on their heads.

so of course the loonies came out and would deliberately feed the gators (NEVER do that) and/or shoot at them or in general harrass them - they began to find dead gators.

fish and game had to cordone off that area permanently and erect signs telling motorists not to stop or be fined. this effectively ended some fabulous sunsets and some prime gator watching.

[kristendunlap]

Your top two fears are snakes and alligators?! And you want to come to Florida? Maybe you shouldn't...If you do, you might want to stick close to the coast. Although, I heard there has been a new problem with pythons and boas in cities.

Really, you don't have to worry about either one. I live 1 mile away from a lake that is crawling with alligators but I never see them. The only snakes I have seen are dead ones (thank GOD). And I practically live in a swamp, 30 minutes from the home of the University of Florida Gators

[hiknapster]

Gators almost never bothered anyone. Then the idiot tourists started feeding them. They have rapidly lost their fear of man. There have been several gators attacks in the past couple of years. There have been some deaths.

Also, pythons have been roaming around, let go by owners that didn't want them anymore. They have become a huge problem in the Everglades and the rangers are concerned that they will take over from the gators.

The problem is, Florida never gets really cold and nothing dies.

[sunrico90]

Don't try the following:

[sunrico90]

December 21. 2006 6:36PM


ASSOCIATED PRESS

TALLAHASSEE -- Alligator hunters killed more of the reptiles this season than any other year in recorded Florida history, according to wildlife officials.

Preliminary figures show hunters killed more than 5,800 alligators during the 11-week season that ended Nov. 1. That number is expected to rise as more kills are reported, said Steve Stiegler of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

The previous single-season record, set last year, was approximately 3,400 alligator kills.

The increase in kills was not unexpected since the state extended this year's season by about six weeks and changed regulations that allowed hunters to purchase more than one permit. Each permit allows for two alligator kills.

The state sold all 4,406 permits to 2,155 hunters in less than four hours in June. Last year, the commission issued only about 2,800 of the 4,300 available permits.

In an unusual string of attacks, alligators killed three people in separate incidents during one week in May, something Stiegler said "certainly increased the publicity of the alligator harvest."

"But we don't think it necessarily increased the interest in the program by the participants," Stiegler added.

Biologists estimate there are up to 2 million alligators in the state.

[florigidge]

sunrico, nice picture of a moron. there's a lot to be said for social darwinism. unless that is a certified gator wrangler or someone knowledgeable in how to deal with gators, we're looking at a reallllllly stupid person. i don't even think educated and experienced people take that kind of chance with alligators. most people aren't steve irwin (rip) - or at least they shouldn't be.

one of the sadest stories i heard was a couple years ago a young woman tourist from up north was visiting a relative who lived on a lake (near orlando? i can't recall exactly where, sorry) and had made comments that "before i leave, i'm going to take a swim in that lake." she was warned that the lake had gators, and i think there was one gator in particular that people were concerned about.

unfortunately, the night before this woman was to leave, she decided to sneak out of the house in her jammies, after dusk, and take that swim. they found her body the next day in the lake - a gator had gotten her. (that's the gist of the story i read.)

so they are to be taken seriously. never feed them. they can run like a son of a ****** too.

the times i did the gator watching, we were far enough away (retaining wall, canal) that there was no acute danger. however, i still worry about that bad boy on campus.

another really scary story is the naturalist in gville who works at kanapaha. he was clearing brush a few years ago at kanapaha botanical gardens near the lake and a gator took his arm off. he survived.

[sickfromredtide]

Originally Posted by Jammie

I was reading in the thread about the worst of Fla. Does anyone know an area of Fla. that doesn't have crocs or gators? Since they don't like salt water, does it mean they wouldn't live in coastal areas like St. Petersburg? What about the panhandle?

I've heard of one salt water croc here in Key West(actually Stock Island) hanging in a canal, it made the paper when a dog went missing. When I lived in Venice, they(gators) were everywhere in the fresh water lakes.

[Jammie]

That pic of the lady feeding the gator is unreal. I would be terrified to be that close to one. WE, of course, don't have gators up here, but we do have snakes and they have killed people. There was a lady who was water skiing over at Chamberlain a few years ago. She skiied into a den of rattlesnakes and passed away before they could get her to shore.

[florigidge]

a lot i know about rattlesnakes...they live in water???? doesn't make sense. do you mean cottonmouth moccasins?