[RocketDawg]

We have them in far north Alabama as well. I too thought the weather would be far too cold in the winter for them to survive but apparently they make it. They're not indigenous. Like others have mentioned, they were introduced for some reason. But then so was kudzu ....

[RetireinPA]

Originally Posted by MOforthewin

I saw an article from a few years back that a large gator was found dead in Jonesboro, and another person stated gators having been seen in the St. Francois in far southern MO near the AR border after flooding. I didn't think gators would make it up to Jonesboro, bootheel region?

I saw someone else said they claimed gators used to be seen in the Ohio river near Cairo IL, and Paducah area

no skin in this, but I saw the title when skimming and have an anecdote...


about 6 years ago we moved back to the pittsburgh area and being a lifelong avid boater and this is known as '3 rivers', well in 2019 we 'took the plunge' so to speak and I dunked 'Chris' in the mon river.


while navigating on plane with trepidation...first time on these rivers, how is my bottom? any fouls? debris etc Im heading upstream during the middle of a nice fine late summer day.


I see something floating in the distance, so taking note I set up to take off starboard and was scanning for more debris, and as I was scanning the surface I really did think to myself " that debris looks like what I would imagine an alligator looks like to someone in florida - snoutish, eyes, and indication of length due to semi submerged body." then I get to about 50 ft away and it goes under! WTH? what was that?


So I get home, and I was getting the daily paper "trib live" which is delivered and online and I read an article THAT day that the ***6th*** alligator of the year was pulled from the emsworth pool - a nice long body of the 3 rivers, allegheny, monongehela and ohio formed by the emsorth dam, so - emsworth pool. The alligator was pulled from lawrenceville up the allegheny and was 4.something feet. the article mentioned that boaters and fishers had seen one up the mon, close to 5+-6ft by sandcastle waterpark on the left bank descending. well, where I spotted it was <1/2 mile up the mon, left bank descending!


The trib allows you to contact reporters so I did and we talked about it and he gave me the number from his contact with the fish/game people and I talked to them...pitt gets bone cold and gets ice on the rivers.. they said that cold water and ice wont kill em, if the water does freeze as long as a snout is above they will take a shallow breath every 5 minutes or so and the cold shuts them down like a semi hibernation - they bury themselves in mud and stuff next to shore - we got lots of that here...


someone needs to get a film crew here and make a monster movie...screw the NYC sewers...


btw - the gators they think are getting there when they get too big as pets. which you should not have. eventually dinner has to be Fifi the toy poodle....

[MOforthewin]

Originally Posted by RetireinPA

no skin in this, but I saw the title when skimming and have an anecdote...


about 6 years ago we moved back to the pittsburgh area and being a lifelong avid boater and this is known as '3 rivers', well in 2019 we 'took the plunge' so to speak and I dunked 'Chris' in the mon river.


while navigating on plane with trepidation...first time on these rivers, how is my bottom? any fouls? debris etc Im heading upstream during the middle of a nice fine late summer day.


I see something floating in the distance, so taking note I set up to take off starboard and was scanning for more debris, and as I was scanning the surface I really did think to myself " that debris looks like what I would imagine an alligator looks like to someone in florida - snoutish, eyes, and indication of length due to semi submerged body." then I get to about 50 ft away and it goes under! WTH? what was that?


So I get home, and I was getting the daily paper "trib live" which is delivered and online and I read an article THAT day that the ***6th*** alligator of the year was pulled from the emsworth pool - a nice long body of the 3 rivers, allegheny, monongehela and ohio formed by the emsorth dam, so - emsworth pool. The alligator was pulled from lawrenceville up the allegheny and was 4.something feet. the article mentioned that boaters and fishers had seen one up the mon, close to 5+-6ft by sandcastle waterpark on the left bank descending. well, where I spotted it was <1/2 mile up the mon, left bank descending!


The trib allows you to contact reporters so I did and we talked about it and he gave me the number from his contact with the fish/game people and I talked to them...pitt gets bone cold and gets ice on the rivers.. they said that cold water and ice wont kill em, if the water does freeze as long as a snout is above they will take a shallow breath every 5 minutes or so and the cold shuts them down like a semi hibernation - they bury themselves in mud and stuff next to shore - we got lots of that here...


someone needs to get a film crew here and make a monster movie...screw the NYC sewers...


btw - the gators they think are getting there when they get too big as pets. which you should not have. eventually dinner has to be Fifi the toy poodle....

Lots of gator sightings all along the Ohio, especially about the Ohio, KY area. too many. I'm wondering if they were released and started to breed and this is why so many are seen now.

[RetireinPA]

Originally Posted by MOforthewin

Lots of gator sightings all along the Ohio, especially about the Ohio, KY area. too many. I'm wondering if they were released and started to breed and this is why so many are seen now.

if so we gotta do this right...get john carpenter or wes craven to direct the movie...

[TRex2]

Originally Posted by MOforthewin

Lots of gator sightings all along the Ohio, especially about the Ohio, KY area. too many. I'm wondering if they were released and started to breed and this is why so many are seen now.

All they need is a heat source: like a power plant, or other industrial plant, that uses the water body for cooling. A lot of wild life will congregate around that heat outlet. Provides heat for reptiles and food for predators.

Dang. Why do 410 shells have to be so scarce...

[Mathguy]

First off, alligators can travel a fair distance.

The more northern ones *should* tend to be younger, smaller males pushed out by the big guys. (But could be old guy pushed off turf and injured and that's probably the real threat).

As such, daytime swimming should be fine in most areas that normally are. (If you want to worry about Bull Sharks too, be my guest because they've been found WAAAAY up the MS river too.)

If you're going to swim at night or dabble at the waters edge, just use a strong flashlight to look for eye-shine.

[Mathguy]

Originally Posted by MOforthewin

Lots of gator sightings all along the Ohio, especially about the Ohio, KY area. too many. I'm wondering if they were released and started to breed and this is why so many are seen now.

Got any sources or sizes for that? They can travel distance but that gets REAL cold up there.

[eddie gein]

Originally Posted by mlulu23

They are in SE Oklahoma as well.


https://www.livescience.com/snorkeli...-oklahoma.html




------------------------------

In Oklahoma the Gators would come up in the summer to the very southeast corner but they generally retreated back down the red river in colder weather. In the last 30 years or so they are hatching them in the southeast corner and the Gators have encroached further north. I believe they have gotten to three or four counties.

There have been some alligators found in Northeastern Oklahoma but they believe those are escapees from exotic animal farms. My guess is any gators found in northern Arkansas and Missouri might be those types of gators. Although you could maybe make a case for a gator making it naturally to Jonesboro in the summer time.

Lived in Florida for a while and the Gators were pretty docile. People are used to them there. But it's funny because where I lived in Gainesville, alligators were everywhere. Creeks, swamps, lakes, apartment ponds. My favorite thing about the University of Florida is that there is a lake on campus (Lake Alice) that is full of gators. Right across the street is married student housing and the first thing you hit after crossing the street from Lake Alice is a playground for kids. When the Gators come ashore in that spot they weren't more than a hundred feet or so from the playground.

[MOforthewin]

Originally Posted by TRex2

All they need is a heat source: like a power plant, or other industrial plant, that uses the water body for cooling. A lot of wild life will congregate around that heat outlet. Provides heat for reptiles and food for predators.

Dang. Why do 410 shells have to be so scarce...

Here in FL the Manatees like to hang around the power plans in the winter when the water is cold.

It's odd how gators make it further north in MS and AR but in GA they're not as far north, not past the fall line even though northern MS is a bit colder than Atlanta.

[MOforthewin]

Originally Posted by eddie gein

In Oklahoma the Gators would come up in the summer to the very southeast corner but they generally retreated back down the red river in colder weather. In the last 30 years or so they are hatching them in the southeast corner and the Gators have encroached further north. I believe they have gotten to three or four counties.

There have been some alligators found in Northeastern Oklahoma but they believe those are escapees from exotic animal farms. My guess is any gators found in northern Arkansas and Missouri might be those types of gators. Although you could maybe make a case for a gator making it naturally to Jonesboro in the summer time.

Lived in Florida for a while and the Gators were pretty docile. People are used to them there. But it's funny because where I lived in Gainesville, alligators were everywhere. Creeks, swamps, lakes, apartment ponds. My favorite thing about the University of Florida is that there is a lake on campus (Lake Alice) that is full of gators. Right across the street is married student housing and the first thing you hit after crossing the street from Lake Alice is a playground for kids. When the Gators come ashore in that spot they weren't more than a hundred feet or so from the playground.

I can see them swimming up the MS in the summer to somewhere like the bootheel. Wouldn't shock me if there are a few in the MO Bootheel since they have been spotted in the St. Francois river on the MO side in far southern MO.

https://www.kait8.com/2019/05/10/ove...east-arkansas/