Nuisance Alligator Removal: What to expect after you call the FWC.

To me, the term "Nuisance Alligator" is a little like the term "Weed".

After all, in most cases, a "Weed" is just a plant in the wrong place at the wrong time. 

Here's an example of that idea, ... an example that I deal with weekly.

Here in Florida, we have a native flowering plant known as "Spanish Needles" (Genus:Bidens).

Now, Spanish Needles are spectacular insect attractors. All kinds of pollinators flock to its abundant white blossoms. Anywhere you see it, you will see butterflies, beetles, and other insects flitting from blossom to blossom.

The problem with Spanish Needles is the abundant double pronged needle-like seeds it produces.

(Don't leave, this is a nuisance alligator post, I'm just making a point here.)

I love seeing vast patches of Spanish Needles on the roadside, in the woods, along ranch fence rows, but NOT, NOT, NOT in my garden.  If you leave even one unpulled, you may lose the battle because of Bidens' crazy seed production.

Good plant along a roadside, Nuisance WEED in my garden.

Point made.

Now about this "Nuisance Gator" process.

Over the Summer, this 4.5 foot long unusually human acclimated gator showed up in our small pond. I posted about him in this post.

I let him stay for a month or so, hoping he would leave on his own, but he chose to stay.

At 4.5 feet long, he was just entering the danger zone and with 2 crazy Labradors living here, he had to go.

I went to the FWC Nuisance Gator website and made a phone call after reading about the process.

During the call, basic information (size of gator and my location, etc) was taken.

I was told the trapper would contact me by phone within 24 hours.

That is exactly what happened.

We set the appointment for the next day.

On that day, the trapper had one other call to do first, but he and his partner showed up mid-morning.

After a quick recon of the pond and the gator's current location, the trappers returned to their truck for a noose and a large surf fishing rod.

The gator cooperated on the first cast but broke the 100 lb test line as it was hauled in.

The trapper exchanged that fishing rod for another one loaded with 200lb fishing line, rebaited, and again the gator cooperated immediately.

(I think he was really hungry because there are currently no fish larger than Gambusia minnows in my pond.)

Once the gator took the bait, the trapper reeled him up on to the bank. His assistant noosed the gator and then she held the noose pole, pinning the gator while the trapper straddled him and taped his mouth shut.

It was all very smooth, efficient, and professional.

I especially appreciated hearing the trapper say, "Sorry little buddy, this just isn't your day."

I was thinking the same thing at that moment.

The gator went into a large containment box in the trapper's pickup along with a previously trapped relative.

Then they were off to the next appointment.

And yes, this gator was almost assuredly harvested, not relocated. The FWC operator specifically asked if I understood that would be the outcome.

I did.

Did I wish he could just be relocated?

Of course.

Would that have been a good idea for this one?

No, wherever he came from, he must have been fed by humans, because he had absolutely no fear of me and would follow me around the pond.

Cute at 4 feet, potentially deadly in 3 years when he's 7 feet long and still associates humans with food.

This was my first time using the FWC Nuisance Alligator program and it was a seamless, smooth, and professional operation from start to finish.

Rainy Season Gator Gift ...hmmm ... can a dilemma be a gift?

Like many surprises, the Great Rainy Season Gator Gift happened during a break in my routine.

Normally, when I get home from work I park the JEEP, load up with my school gear, and trudge up the walkway to PFHQ.

For some reason about 2 weeks ago, I left the baggage in the JEEP and walked down to the pond. 

I was curious about the water level in the pond. Our long cool dry spell had broken with a wet fury that pushed rain across us almost daily. 

A system I installed years ago shunts rainwater from our steep roof down to the pond, so I was expecting a nice rise in her water level. 

Let me tell you about our pond before I get to the good stuff. The pond is long and narrow with a cypress, red maple, willow, and buttonbush swamp at the south end and a few planted cypress trees along the north end.

In the center of the west bank, beneath a shady black willow tree, stands a small dock ... one badly in need of new decking. 

During good Hurricane seasons, the dock which is currently about 5 feet above the pond surface, can be under 2 feet of water.

I share this so you'll understand that our pond is always changing and always hosting different populations of flora and fauna.

During very long droughts, the pond can go completely dry.

When the rains come again, I replenish the fish from local creeks and ditches, along with the occasional crawfish and tiny freshwater shrimps.

Other guests find their own way. This includes the usual cast of characters, but also a few surprise visitors like the sick brown pelican that spent the last week of his life paddling around the pond before expiring.

Once, an otter showed up and stayed just long enough to eat all the turtles and the freshly stocked channel catfish.

Last year the surprise was a mated pair of Black Bellied Whistling Ducks and the 8 ducklings they produced.

Man I loved that visit.

I heard the Black Bellies this winter, even spooked one off the pond, but they didn't stay.

I think I know why now...

I wasn't really thinking about all this the day of the "great routine break".

I was just taking a quiet moment to enjoy the pond before starting the second half of my normal after work routine ... greeting our awesome dogs, making supper, etc.

As I approached the pond, I took in the brush piles from some recent trimming, the grungy deck with its warped and questionable boards, the blooming buttonbush balls ...and a 5-ish foot gator.

He was right at the water's edge and he made no effort to leave, even when I crouched down a few feet away to talk to him.

He was so comfortable with my presence that he continued to snap up big female Gambusia minnows that ventured too close.

When my crouching legs needed decrouching, I stood up and walked 20 feet away to the dock.

He followed me and stopped just below my dangling feet.

His behavior makes me wonder if someone was feeding him at his prior location. It's either that or he is just one extremely confident little gator. 

He's about 5 feet long, but his attitude is more like 10 feet long.

He is actually more of a dilemma than a gift, based on his hissy attitude, lack of fear of humans, and habit of following me as I walk along the bank.

The dogs are my main concern of course. We never let them go to the pond off leash and their off-leash outside world is the fenced house yard, but ... they are Labs and if ever they did escape, the pond would be like a big wet Neodognium magnet.

Also, at a foot a year, in 2 years he's no longer kinda cute, but a big toothy threat to humans too.

 Legally, (which is mostly how I like to do things), I can't touch him.

So, in the near future, I'll be calling the nuisance gator hotline, where I'll probably be laughed at when I answer the "How long is he?" question.

I have a feeling the turtle above (that's his head poking out of the gator's jaws) would've liked me to have made that call about 2 weeks ago.

Kissimmee Prairie Gators

See the large alligator in the photo above?

How about now?

This gator is big ... 7-8 feet, and it was up on the bank resting in tall grass when I walked up to the wetland area.

I never saw it until it jumped up on all four legs and KAFLOOSHED into the water.

It does give you pause when they do that.

Kissimmee Prairie is a "dry" prairie. The word "Dry" is a necessary adjective here in Florida, because we do have "Wet" prairies.  Both prairie types can be wet or dry seasonally, but they are labeled according to the most common conditions.
True to form, Kissimmee Prairie ("KP" for the rest of this post) was mostly dry, even though the whole state had received pretty decent rains from TS Debbie a few days before.
It's a prairie, so trees are clumped here and there, but mostly it is open wiregrass and saw palmetto as far as the eye can see.

I can just imagine this KP in peak wildflower season.

My hiking had been mostly through open, dry habitats, so I was happy when I came across a wetland area with pig frogs grunting and fish dimpling the surface.

There were gators too.

I don't think I have ever shot this rear view of a gator's head before.

I like it. 

This gator came cruising quietly up after I began my sadly deficient baby gator grunt call. It came from a long distance so I am giving credit to the sounds I was making, even if they were lacking in alligatorialaccuracy.

I had not practiced the nasal squeaky grunt baby gators emit for a long time, so don't laugh to hard at my expense when you watch the video.

(You already watched it didn't you? Cheater.)

While I was grunting this one in, (and marveling that she fell for it), there was a commotion out in the reeds.

I switched from still shots to video in time to catch a much larger, much more cranky, alligator charging towards my location.

So the video is a bit jerky ... I wasn't expecting that.

Now, some might say, "Gee, FC, you're a real gator whisperer. You just called that big mama right to ya'!"

I think the real truth may be that she was just irritated by my poor imitation of a baby gator.

You know, like that feeling you get when you hear some sports announcer idiot or a college kid on the local NPR  station mispronnounce word after word,  and you just want to smite them?

Whatever the reason, she was impressive, even at a distance.

This trip to the wide open prairie, this gator, the grainy non HD video, and some missed shots have finally pushed me over the edge and I think it's time for a new camera.

I found the sales receipt yesterday, and my super reliable Sony Cybershot DSC-H5, 12x zoom, 7.2 mp camera is 6 years old.

The time has come.

Please Do Not Pick The Flowers ... Violators Will Be Eaten.



CHOMP!



Suwannasaurus Rex

This little 6 footer was sunning just to the right of the Manatee Springs junction with the Suwannee River last weekend. A hundred yards away upstream along the spring run, dozens of people were happily splashing and swimming in the main spring.
The gator was enjoying the quiet solitude and sun in a gooshier, wilder area where swimmers do not go, but there is no physical barrier to prevent him from visiting the spring boil.

I was after sturgeon photos in my little sit on top fishing kayak, so I paddled past the sunning gator and across the river to where the sturgeon action was strongest. As I drifted along the bank with the current, I came across a much larger gator.
Much larger.



This one was stretched out in the water, with most of his body just beneath the surface. The Suwannee is tea colored, but clear in this area and I could see her bulk in its entirety.
I'm a fisherman, so I must exercise some restraint in my estimation to allow for fudgenicity of measurement.
My self-corrected conservative estimate is 8 feet.

What was so impressive and cautionary about this one, besides a respectable girth, is the fact that it stared me down and held its floating position while I drifted closer and closer.

In fact, when it never changed position or ducked under, I changed my course to give it even more space.

Perhaps a mound of rotting vegetation containing oval gator treasures sat in the swamp behind it ... incubating the next generation.

Whatever the reason, there was an air of territoriality in the gator's attitude and I did not care to challenge that while appearing to be a small creature atop an oddly shaped log.

You get my drift?



The Icing Response In Alligators

Just trying to survive here ...

Icing on the Lake.
(subtlepunnicity ... I slay me)



My mistake last Wednesday, was the assumption that the gators at Payne's Prairie would be up basking on the banks due to the very cold weather. They were not.

In fact, they were all but invisible.


Temps had dropped below freezing that night and were still around 35 when I arrived at the preserve.


The spate of cold weather that week made the physical act of crawling out to bask in the sun not only a tougher physical challenge, but a poor survival choice for smaller gators, since the water was warmer than the air.





I observed about 4 gators in the 3 hours I spent roaming the prairie that day. Two were "icing", one was water basking, and one huge black gator had actually hauled itself out to sun.



Here's a little bit about "ICING" from one of Florida's best public treasures, The Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville ...


"Adult alligators can survive freezing conditions if they are in water. They submerge their body but keep their nostrils projecting above the water surface, so that when the surface freezes they can still breathe (called the "icing response"). Essentially their upper body becomes trapped in the ice. " (Credit: Florida Museum Of Natural History)

So an icing gator like this is not "... a lazy gator".
He's actually working real hard at getting through a life threatening event... i.e., a North Florida winter. He probably has not eaten for weeks, since gators generally stop eating below 70 degrees.



On my hike back to the Preserve entrance, with a noonday sun beating down, a pair of gators at the Alachua sink were exposing a little more skin to the air. Nobody was moving though.
The gator above has been floating long enough for his skin to dry out (the grey).

He remained immobile like that while a duck and an egret hunted (seemingly cooperatively ... more on that later) directly in front of him.
Eating was not an option for the gator. Heat absorption was the priority.


This gator was nowhere to be seen when I walked by on the way out to the prairie at around 0900 hours.
I took this picture at noon. For him, soaking up heat on the bank is a good gamble. His large size and dark color will allow him to absorb and store lots of solar energy before dusk brings another freezing night.

Another freezing night, another challenge for a critter with a survival tool box labeled, "Instinctive Behaviors".


You can collect a lot of tools in 200,000,000 years.
The "Icing Response" is just one of them.