Alligators (Ocala: house, safe, pool)

[yamahastar]

Alligators live ANYWHERE and EVERYWHERE in Florida where there is water, not just in the forest or rual areas. There are retention ponds and other bodies of water in Gainesville that have alligaors in them - on campus and in the parking lot of the VA Hospital.

[Miles Vineyards]

yamhastar, you are right about that. There a very few golf courses that do not have at least one or two and Indian River County is full of them. The good old boys down at the local sport shop in Vero Beach told me that alligators only stayed in fresh water and did not care for "brackish water" and that there was no concern about wading the sand bars in the river while fishing sea trout. Dirty cures, one day about daybreak I was waist deep off an island and had about an 8' footer glide past me no more than 20 yards. Needless to say when I informed the boys we all had a good laugh. I lived on one of the canals off of the Vero Beach Golf Club and some nights when I came home from the river it was nothing to se 50 sets of glowing eyes on the banks of the canals.

[PeterNorth]

Originally Posted by Miles Vineyards

I drive trucks with 11' lift kits,

11 foot lift kit?! Holy crap, that's a HUGE lift!! lol

[Miles Vineyards]

PeterNorth, 11" sounds bigger than it really is, I am running 285/85 16 inch rims and in fact I would have like to go up another 2" inches as my ranchero shocks do not fully extend which has a tendency to make it ride rougher but to go any higher makes the steering spooky with fast moves.
If I had a way I would e-mail you a pic. They do trucks all the time but few people do Yukons, I have new back doors, panels paint job and sharp mags. My niece borrowed the truck for a few days which turned out to be over a week, I asked her when was she going to bring it back, she said she hated to give it up as it was a "MAN MAGNET". I plan to put smalller less aggressive tires on it as it is time to start using instead of letting it sit in the barn. I plan to take it to Florida next year, it is an 1998 with a 135,000 miles so I need to get some miles on it to get it broke in!!!!!

[Miles Vineyards]

PeterNorth, The joke's on me, I just noted I said 11 feet. OK, dumb me.

[KathyA11]

Originally Posted by Miles Vineyards

KathyA11, thanks and good luck settling in.

Thanks -- so far, so good. We're not snowbirds -- we're here for the long haul. Little by little, we'll make this piece of property a little piece of heaven.

[KathyA11]

Originally Posted by Strel

Plus, it would be an unusually large gator that could take out an adult Shetland.

Just an FYI, Shetlands are ponies, not miniature horses, which are a different thing entirely -- there are several different breeds of miniature horses, and they're *much* smaller than a Shetland. There's a farm on 484 about 3 miles west of 200 which breeds them.

[Roni McLennan]

Originally Posted by houseofcards

I agree with Just_Being_Myself. You will find Gators near lakes, streams, rivers and springs. I actually saw a gator crossing the road in Silver Springs Shores (a residential community) near Lake Joy.
Here is a good web-site about alligators from the University of Florida:

url=http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/UW230 - Living with Alligators

I hope it helps.

Thank you for stating that - my mom lives on Lake Joy and Yes there is a huge one in there - plus others - she has huge bass and giant cat fish with fins the size of sharks - you would be foolish to think there not in every part of water - go back to stories 2006 where a young women was killed in cold water - I saw one swimming in a lake with ice. Google gator attacks - I don't let my kids or animals go near the water or swim unless it's a pool, of course I check the pool first. My brother lives in Umatilla off Lake Nickatoon connected to the Ocala National Forest litterally you can ride you ATV there - he a huge gators and just the another night had a huge bear looking in his front door - eating cat food - which no longer is left outside - amongst other wildlife.

Hats off to you for answering her question correctly - look at Miami/Homestead - they have everythin, gators, crocs, pythons, lizards, panthers, bobcats, bears, cayotes, fox, and every thing else, live there most of my life as a cautious Floridian.

Roni McLennan

[Roni McLennan]

Originally Posted by aprilcostello

thanks for all of your replies! I have to agree about poodles making good gator bait, though. Followed closely by chihuahas, yorkies, and any other dog people feel the need to carry around in their purses.

april you are definately a ding bat - you want to protect your horses and then you get natsy about small dogs - all pets are precious and mean something to somebody like your horses - i have changed my opinion of you - you and the other person who thinks poodles and small dogs should be eaten by gators are total idiots - i hope you don't become serial killers - you starts off with being cruel to pets - people are people - last time i looked this was a free country - so it's okay to carry you pet dog around if that is what makes you feel good - you must be an obama lover.

[Roni McLennan]

i'M SORRY YOU LOST YOU DOG - THAT IS AN AWFUL THING TO GO THROUGH - GATORS ARE FACINATING IN PARKS LIKE THE EVERGLADES - IN OUR BACKYARDS - NO - TIRED OF PEOPLE SAYING THEY WERE HERE FIRST - SO WHAT - WE DON'T ALWAYS HAVE A CHOICE WHERE WE LIVE OR BUILD.

DON'T FEEL SORRY FOR APRIL -SHE IS AN IDIOT - READ HER COMMENTS ON SMALL DOGS LIKE THE OTHER GUYS - SORRY - I REPLIED THE NASTY TRUTH TO HER.

SINCERELY,

RONI