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.

Florida Harvester Ants ... Congrats, You have rated an A+ on my personal "Stingometer".

Of course Emma and the dogs are cute, but I want you to note the pond level and the height of the dock above water.
This was early August.

Here's the dock a few weeks later.
Note the dock to water distance.
Also, note the two 4x4 posts at the shore end of the dock.
They are good reference points for the changes to come.

And a few weeks later.
I had to wade out to the dock to take this photo of course.
The pond is out of its excavated basin and creeping into the oak forest.

So, you may be thinking ... I thought this was a Harvester Ant post ... when does he start talking about ants?

How about now...

This is the already soggy nest of the Florida Harvester Ant, (Pogonomyrmex badius).
The edge of the pond is about a foot from the nest at this point, but the wet ground has caused the ants to build an uncharacteristically high nest.
For years, this location has been a dry and sandy spot high above the pond waters.

Normally, harvesters have a fairly low sandy mound that is semi-cleared of plant growth. You can often see bits of seed husks and charcoal in a ring around the mound center.

I have always thought of them as one of our cooler ant species, big and obvious, but not aggressive like the hated exotic fire ants.

I have crouched at the edge of many harvester nests and pondered their goings on with never an aggressive act by the ants ... even when some worker wandered up on to my leg.

I have a little different view now ... more on that later.

For the record, knowing what I know NOW about the incredibly powerful sting of the Florida Harvester Ant, I would change that species name from "badius"  to "badassius".

This photo was taken just a few days after the first mound picture.
The water is now up to the edge of the mound.

Harvester ants dig down about 2 meters, so obviously the lower floors are flooded in this colony. For weeks, the ants have been dealing with the groundwater by piling dirt up into a tall mound ... which is now failing to hold its shape as the saturated soil sags.

I visited this ant colony almost daily to see how they were dealing with the rising pond.
In the photo above, the soggy mound is not supporting tunnels and the ants are dealing with the new reality.
The mound is now surrounded by water.
But it's still a mound ... sort of.

Here's a close-up of the teamwork going on.
(I am assuming that the pale ants are newbies)

There's a heck of a lot of instinctual coordination happening here and you might expect that somewhere at the center of one of these "antscrapers" there's a queen safely hidden away.

Outward from the main clusters, there were small groups and even individual soldier warrior ants clinging to grass blades ... a picket line if you will.

I was aware of them as I maneuvered the Olympus Tough camera in for extreme close-ups.
The super macro setting on this camera requires you to be within an inch or two of your subject.
This makes things a little tricky when dealing with bitey, stingy critters.

So it was that I didn't notice the single harvester ant as she hopped aboard my hand.
When I did, she was standing on my right "avian" finger.
Acting quickly, I puffed a breath of air to remove her ...AND IN THAT INSTANT, JUST BEFORE SHE WAS SENT FLYING THROUGH THE AIR, SHE STUNG THE HOLY CRAPOWSKI OUT OF ME!

I mean, it hurt like the overused "hot needle" cliche, the pain was immediate and intensifying as seconds went by.
So know this ... I am not a wuss AND I have been stung by most of what there is to sting you in Florida ... All the wasps multiple times, bees, jellyfish, giant water bugs, Portuguese Man O'War, saltwater catfish, freshwater catfish, fire ant, velvet ant, mixed spiders, and stingrays.
When I was 17, I took a stingray sting to the foot while out gigging flounder and after a brief pause, continued to flounder until the sun came out.
You get me?
I'm not bragging, just saying I HAVE a sting pain scale in my head and know of what I speak.

What really surprised me ... besides the levels of pain that my finger was passing through, is the fact that it didn't fade out and become just a mild annoyance in the first hour.
That's right ... the FIRST hour.

Guess which finger got stung?
I wish this looked more gnarly to truly represent how much it hurt, but all we have above is a bit of swelling.
I believe it was around 4:30 or 5:00 pm when I was stung.
At midnight, when I fell asleep, it was less intense, but still throbbing and painful.

In the morning, the finger was just a little sensitive, but the true pain had faded during the night.

Holy Smokes!
Who knew?
Well, it turns out others did, ... I was the ignorant one.

"The Florida harvester ant is not of economic importance to growers and homeowners, is not aggressive and almost has to be forced to sting someone. However, the sting is among the more painful of those received from ants and the pain lasts longer than usual for ant stings due to the poison injected (Haack and Granovsky 1990). Some swelling may also occur as the reaction to their stings spread along the lymph channels (Ebeling 1978).

A personal account of a sting episode by Wray (1938) is as follows: "Several ants stung me on the wrist, and after a few minutes an intense fiery pain began in this area which was about two inches in diameter. It turned deep red in color and immediately a watery, sticky secretion came out of the skin. This area became hot and feverish and the excruciating pain lasted all day and up into the night." At least one death, a child in Oklahoma, has been credited to stings by the red harvester ant, P. barbatus(Haack and Granovsky 1990)."  Source: University of Florida/IFAS

See kids, this is why you need to stuff your head full of information... this would have been really handy to know before my close encounter.

So, what about now?

The pond is at its highest levels since the wonderful hurricane season of 2004 ... 4 tropical systems and 16 inches of rain in 24 hours during one of them.

The almost daily rains here have pushed the pond even farther out of its basin and the ant mound is now completely under water.

Everyone is clinging to each other and the overburdened grass blades.

It's getting more challenging as the grass bends under the weight and the water rises.

I hold no ill will towards them and truthfully, I'm rooting for them.

To the point where I may tether a log next to them as a life raft ... they may do the living raft thing like fire ants do, but they are mainly a dry land species, so it may not be in their instinctive bag of tricks.

And this is where we are as I write this on September 6, 2015.  The shore end of the dock, where Emma and the dogs were in the first photo of this ant tale, is where the 2 posts stick out of the water.

The water drowning the young pine tree is about knee deep and extends to the left for another 10 feet or so.

 The Harvester Ants' nest location is roughly opposite the first cypress trees off in the distance.

The ants still cling to grass blades at the nest site, which is completely submerged. 

Outside, ...it's raining again.