Florida TIP of the Day

[Father Kit Cool Gun Garth]

 

 

 

[Trailrider #896]

If I stay out of the water, I don't care how many are IN the water. It's the ones roaming around out of the water that worry me! 

[Alpo]

In the local State Park they have a small pond they have named Alligator Lake. Because it's supposed to be full of alligators. You can park up by the road and walk down a nice path to the pond, and they have a walkway that goes all the way around the pond, so you can look at the alligators. So me and the wife go out there one day, and we walk down to the pond and we don't see nothing, and we walk all the way around it and we still don't see nothing, so we're standing there at the edge of the pond, at the pathway going back up to the road, talking about what a rip-off there was since they were no alligators in Alligator Lake.

 

And I glance down and there is about a 3-foot gator, in the water, maybe six inches away from my foot. Oops.

 

Out on the beach there used to be a reptile farm. Now it's a zoo but they've still got lots of gators. We're out there one day.

 

There's this big enclosure. Got maybe 3 foot high concrete walls all the way around it. Has a pond out in the middle of it. And it is just lop-sloppin' full of alligators.

 

And I'm standing right up next to that 3 foot high wall, looking over it at all the alligators out there in the distance. And I glance downward. And there's about a 12-footer laying right up tight against the wall, directly down from where my hand is sitting. Oops.

[Wallaby Jack, SASS #44062]

  .... so Australia ain't the only "dangerous" place .... 

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

Sneaky bâtards, aren’t they.

[Cypress Sun]

15 hours ago, Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 said:

Sneaky bâtards, aren’t they.

 

They'll also outrun a human for a short distance (30' - 40').

[Calamity Kris]

Even though I leave for work in the dark, I always make sure I have plenty of lights around my car when I go out.   I'm real careful to make sure the area is clear.  More than one neighbor had gotten to their vehicle and been hissed at by a gator snoozing under their car.  Ain't gonna be me.......

[Utah Bob #35998]

2 hours ago, Wallaby Jack, SASS #44062 said:

  .... so Australia ain't the only "dangerous" place .... 

No. It’s just the MOST dangerous place.

[Pat Riot]

My wife and I were considering Edgewater Florida as a possible place to retire. We found a nice house about a mile from the beach. A one story Ranch style home with a chain link fence, 2 car garage, nice interior. 
There were small lakes or retention ponds on the other side of the road. I was using Google Street View to try and get a look at those ponds to see how big they were.

One of the ponds had what looked like a log floating in it. My wife said “Zoom in, maybe it’s a boat.”

It was an alligator, or something that looked an awful lot like an alligator. My wife looked at it. Her eyes got big and she started saying “Nope, nope, nope…no way in hell! Unh-uh! Nope. I forgot about Florida having alligators.” And that was that. Florida was off the list. 
I decided not to tell her that alligators can climb chain link fences. 

[Sedalia Dave]

Most people are shocked to learn that alligators call Lake Texoma home.

 

 

Lake Texhoma is circled in red.

 

BTW, It's a safe bet that all of the other Texas lakes you can see on the map are also home to a few gators.

[Caladisi kid]

 

When I lived in Florida you could visit this gator hole in Myakka State Park after a 1.5 mile hike in. They limited feeding time,   opps,   l mean passes to 40 people a day to hike in.  The picture only shows one side of a sinkhole and they are lined up all around it.  There are NO gates or fences, you can walk right up to pet them 😁.
You also know you are in Florida when during the day at the beach you see a  4 foot rattler come out of the dune toward the water, a manatee then an alligator then a dolphin swim by in the surf!  
Ohh..... and don’t forget the stingray shuffle.  
Good times   

[Wallaby Jack, SASS #44062]

5 hours ago, Utah Bob #35998 said:

No. It’s just the MOST dangerous place.

 

 ....... good point ....  

[DeaconKC]

[Cactus Jack Calder]

Everglades National Park

 

Back in the 50’s my folks took us kids on a sightseeing trip through Everglades National Park. Florida Rt. 9336 is the road that wanders through the Everglades from Miami to Flamingo, FL. There were several places to pull off the highway and see portions of the Park. One such place included a 8-10 foot Alligator just off the parking area. This Gator was not penned or restrained in any way. When people walked near him he would make a sound like “Gronk” and hold his mouth open for people to throw treats. As I remember it he had been given a name that I can not remember, and was sort of an unofficial attraction. The Park Service warned people not to feed the wildlife, but he had apparently learned that he could get people to throw him food if he behaved himself. To the best of my limited knowledge he never hurt anyone, but eventually the Park Service relocated him to prevent any issues.

 

CJ

[Rye Miles #13621]

The biggest tip I ever got about Florida was DON’T move there!

[Alpo]

Yeah, I wish more people have listened to that tip. Especially people from the Northeast part of the country.

[Rye Miles #13621]

6 hours ago, Rye Miles #13621 said:

The biggest tip I ever got about Florida was DON’T move there!

I didn’t mean to offend any of you Floridians but I’ve been to Florida over the years maybe a half dozen times, once for a week in July and it’s just not for me. I’ll put up with fairly mild winters up here. I’m sure ya’ll feel the same about the North. To each his own!

[watab kid]

well , OP is good advice - im not big on reptiles that would eat you , but second advice is go armed even on land ................