St. Petersburg - alligators or crocodiles? (Miami, Sunset: house, live, food)

[Tiger Beer]

St. Petersburg, I imagine has BOTH salt water and fresh water. Does that mean BOTH alligators and crocodiles as well? Fairly prevalent?

WIth that much population density though...?

[vaughanwilliams]

Any lake, creek, pond or retention pond could have a gator or two. Crocs are rare.

[algia]

NOT Salt water....there are no Alligators in the Gulf waters...and crocodiles are VERY RARE, and you may only see some if you're lucky in the Everglades in SoFla!

Every pond might have an Alligator or two...you leave them alone, and they leave you alone....if you have barking dogs at them...your dog might become their lunch...so be mindful of that.

In St Pete there are Manatees in those canals...so be careful with the boats....

[Tiger Beer]

Originally Posted by algia

NOT Salt water....there are no Alligators in the Gulf waters...and crocodiles are VERY RARE, and you may only see some if you're lucky in the Everglades in SoFla!

Every pond might have an Alligator or two...you leave them alone, and they leave you alone....if you have barking dogs at them...your dog might become their lunch...so be mindful of that.

In St Pete there are Manatees in those canals...so be careful with the boats....

Manatees! That's interesting. What things do they do, that muck up the boats going through?

So there is a lot of fresh water in St. Petesburg for the Alligators? Where does the canal water come from out on the Peninsula? It's not from the ocean?

[algia]

Nothing, Manatees do absolutely NOTHING...but they get hit by boats a lot, which sucks....the float in the waters...and those with boats that don't have that screen telling them what fish is under their boats hit them with the propellers...this is not an hourly occurrence tho...but it happens...

No, no....fresh water is that one in ponds without an exit to a canal....the canal water is Gulf Water...salted. No Alligators there. UNLESS the house is on a canal on one side, and a pond on the other...

[Not_liking_FL]

It is possible to see an alligator in saltwater though it's not common. There was a saltwater crocodile in St. Pete about a year ago. The crocodiles are in S. FL(Miami and south), but every now and then one heads north.

[SunsetBeachFL]

Gators can survive and thrive in brackish water, part salt, part fresh/natural. They are not terribly particular as long as there is a food source dogs, other small pets and stupid people that throw a whole chicken into the water to watch the gator(s) eat for their entertainment. It used to be a big thing for people throw a chicken into the water until pets got snapped up; not so prevalent anymore.

I will repeat myself here: The worst predators in FL are politicians and lobbyists. I'm shaking just thinking about that.

Really, the gator population is the least of any FL worries.

[Tiger Beer]

Sounds like St. Petersburg, despite it's a peninsula, and it's urban, seems alive with wildlife.

I guess, that would include plenty of SNAKES as well?

[algia]

Why does it matter though?

They all generally mind their own business.

I mean, Alaska has a ton of bears...every area has wild life, of course there are snakes...but why does it matter? its not like you'd be sleeping by the ponds!?

Originally Posted by Tiger Beer

Sounds like St. Petersburg, despite it's peninsular status, and it's urban nature, seems alive with animals than.

I guess, that would include plenty of SNAKES as well?

[Leaving4Ca]

Originally Posted by SunsetBeachFL

Really, the gator population is the least of any FL worries.

Ok... so what WOULD you consider a worry? Please elaborate... bugs? snakes? frogs?? hurricanes??