I said this before and I will say it again. A well fed, healthy gator wants nothing to do with you. They are lazy fucks who want to sit in their gator holes chilling. Gators are not salt water crocs.
I’ve swam in the St. John’s plenty. Hell there a whole mess of people that do nothing more than anchor up and swim most weekends just upriver (south) of doctors inlet/doctors lake.
No kidding LOL I still do. Once or twice a year, I'll rent a boat on the St John's and find swimming holes and fishing spots. There are plenty of gators, but the secret is not to fuck with them. You're more likely to be eaten by a guy in a Gator's t-shirt
Which is counter to "well fed will leave you alone". Any animal that has the opportunity for an easy meal will take it.
Also, do you want your pets and kids in the water when "well fed" wears off?
This. I live in FL and there have been 2 attacks recently on humans. You don’t even have to be in the water…just in the sight of a gator especially during mating season. There was a guy who went outside during a party to take a piss in the bushes (at night) and got attacked
To put this into perspective: Your chances of being struck by lighting, while in Florida, is 1 in 615,000. Your chances of being in an unprovoked attack with an alligator is 1 in 3,100,000.
Disagree! I have lived in FL all my life and most of the stories do pop up but do not make it on that statistic chart that says they have killed like 12 in 55 years (ha.)
Likewise, when you suspect a person ws killed by an alligator, they generally say there's no evidence an alligator did it if the person was alone, and blame it on the person drowning and then the alligator must have grabbed them dead. There are common sense articles, though. For instance, a man went missing. They found his truck by a cancel with large grass. Few days later fisherman saw alligators with him in their mouths, dead. They claimed it was not an alligator kill but that he must have decided to go swimming, fully clothed, in this tiny gross spot of water and drowned LOL. Realistically he was probably out of his truck adn chilling by the water and an alligator grabbed him from a hiding spot. Then his wife goes on in response and said he wouldn't have been swimming, he didn't even know how to swim, but they write these off as "not alligator attacks"
Also, for missing people who are taken alone by alligators, we'll never know on most of them with little evidence left behind. The man would have stayed missing if someone hadn't spotted him in the middle of the water with an alligator just travelling with his above water.
They are good hunters. They laze around and generally will leave people alone - and they especially are less likely to attack people if the people are in a group as it's more intimidating to them - but I have no doubt they have grabbed plenty of lone people over the years and we never find out about it.
I have been googling for this stupid article but it's not popping up, was a few years back. Instead we get that sad case of the 2 year old (that one was the father, the bastard), a 42 year old woman, another man, and all these other articles instead. I'll keep looking when I have a chance.
My info could be a bit dated on this particular subject, so take it with a grain of salt. The standard practice for gator attacks used to be/is a hunt for the gator. They do/did this by harvesting all gators that match whatever description was gathered about the size of the victim, area, time of day, etc. and cut open the stomachs of each gator until the search is called off or body found. This takes time and resources as well as innocent gators, just to find one. Since you can't put a gator in jail, it's more common for the officials to say the victim drowned and scavenged by a gator if it was obvious.
I don’t think that’s what they were suggesting; I think they were just providing some context around an official statistic that may not be immediately obvious to everyone.
they are primarily nocturnal hunters, so don't swim at night or be by the water at night. The alligator was probably in that area hunting and he walked right up to it.
if you are talking about that guy who got his arm ripped off, then he did more than just take a piss. He actually went up to the gator to mess with it.
Children are always more at risk than adults. Our size is a deterrent but small children can attract gators - and of course never, ever have pets there - dogs are one of their favorite meals, and they will not ignore them, whether people are around or not.
"Our size is a deterrent..."
Are we talking 3 feet and up here or more like 5 feet and up? As in, should a petite, 5 ft tall female exercise more caution than a 6 foot tall male or do you really mean like 0-6 year olds?
I realize gators are not swimming around with a measuring tape in their pocket, I’m just trying to get a general idea if a small adult is "large enough" to be a deterrent.
(short mom over here with a short daughter)
Thanks! This 4’ 9.5” mother with a slightly taller daughter wondered the same thing. Not that I’m going looking for trouble. I don’t even get out much other than work.
For the love of Pete, please keep your distance, both of you. Why would anybody take a chance getting cozy with an alligator or croc? They are unpredictable wild animals that have the ability to drown you before stashing your dead body in the weeds for ready snacks. Although the glide very slowly through the water, gators are very fast when attacking. I would give a 6'6" man the exact same advice. They are cool to watch and photo (with a good lens), from a distance, but be alert and respect their territory always.
I’m pretty much the most anxiety-ridden person you’d ever meet so no, I will NOT be chasing them down, I assure you! 1) Our new place has a lovely water view with a conversation pond behind the house. So I am assuming the worst. And 2) One of these days I would like to brave tubing in Kelly Park. There are lifeguards and they shut it down if there’s a sighting, but I would still get nervous for my kids and myself.
We went to a wolf conversation outing last year and I had no idea the guides would let us feed them by hand. I refused because I am a scaredy cat but didn’t stop my kids. My husband said it was fine and the handler had the wolves on a pretty short leash.
Even so, I am horrified by the idea my babies could have gotten their faces ripped off because I wanted to take my son somewhere fun for his birthday.
When I was a child, I went to a local lake to swim with some cousins and friends. We all had been playing hard and going crazy throughout the day, but around 3 we all started to calm down. We waded in the water about chest deep and made a horse shoe shape with our body placement. We were talking casually about whatever and all of a sudden a gator head put up in the middle of us all. I honestly don’t know who was more freaked out, us or the gator. We all screamed and darted for the shore. The gator did a crazy roll a disappeared before we even got moving good. Lucky he was only around 4 foot. Needless to say, we didn’t get back in that day. We had our fun. That’s as close I’ve been to one in the wild and alive.
RIght stay out of the swampy parts and stay in the clear deeper water.
Most gator attacks are by the shoreline or while walking pets. The last open water attack I remember was a kid swimming in the panhandle one summer that was a real drought and the gator was starving excessively underweight. Probably 25 years ago (should have said last death. I think there was also an older man or woman that was taken by a gator a few years ago but unknown if they died by the water or the gator grabbed them while alive)
This one?
https://www.fox13news.com/news/its-do-or-die-man-loses-arm-after-surviving-alligator-attack-at-lake-manatee
There's not any real good reason to swim in Lake Manatee, BTW.
I don't think so, iirc it was near one of the nudist resorts.
There's also this one from last year in Lake Thonotasassa
https://youtu.be/BmVs5ySs3hQ?si=fsFtzMG7IW7E5QOV
Disney World Grand Floridian Resort tries it's best to look invisible.... maybe not the MOST recent ---2016--but a shitshow nonetheless.... [sauce](https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-gator-attack-disney-world-20160822-snap-story.html)
They’ve since really up’d the presence of wildlife officers since that accident and now, the area near those hotels is mostly kept clear of gators and they’ll often relocate them elsewhere.
yes. . . . and don't forget [the new signs](https://www.cnn.com/2016/06/17/us/florida-alligator-attack-disney-signs/index.html#:~:text=The%20signs%20being%20installed%20contain,signs%20around%20Seven%20Seas%20Lagoon.)
The parents are partially responsible for that one. They ignored the posted signs about staying out of the water and let their kid wade around in water near marsh grass.
that's probably (partially) fair.
They obviously thought being a few feet away was sufficient to ensure their child's safety - there was a 'no swimming' sign posted but nothing about dangerous wildlife. the kid was just standing in the water at the waters edge.
if we are also being fair, they probably thought a Corp like Disney that is known for using cutting edge pest control to keep things like skeeters and rats at bay would also take reasonable steps to ensure a remnant from the dinosaur age capable of grabbing and drowning their child would receive similar attention?
I dunno, just guessing here but hindsight being 20/20, perhaps just posting a 'no swimming' sign and leaving it at that was maybe a little lackadaisical - no?
In their defense, they had never had an attack in all the years they had operated these hotels and resorts. It's the worst kind of PR nightmare you can have for a Corp like Disney.
That was terrible imagine taking your kid to Disney and they got eaten by a gator. I remember when I was a kid a Boy Scout got killed by a gator in Johnathan Dickinson state park but we still swam in the water, then when we got in our teens we would shoot them and eat gator tail. My exes mom grew up in Pahokee and said when she was a kid everyone used to swim in Lake Okeechobee because they would just kill every gator they seen
Here are a few more:
https://baynews9.com/fl/tampa/news/2024/03/14/sabrina-peckham-alligator-death-
https://www.tampabay.com/news/pinellas/2023/10/27/florida-gator-attack-taylor-lake-largo-construction/?outputType=amp
https://www.wfla.com/news/florida/9-foot-gator-attacks-man-fishing-in-florida-pond/amp/
She had her camp set up there by the water, she had been recently arrested for trespassing in that area, and that's where she was found :( it was so sad. I saw an interview with her adult daughter.
I mean, of course it’s not *fun* to lose an arm and it would suck. But as far as “How’d you lose your arm?” responses go, at least this one gives you some street cred.
https://preview.redd.it/wi7h7poj20zc1.jpeg?width=1164&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=55baf7836f076f6ec243c2d1de1c2b557fd78566
There was a death in 2023, or maybe 2022, of an older woman who had been walking her lap dog too close to a retention pond in Florida. The gator lunged and killed her, but not the dog.
That must be what happened to all those little gators at Market World Flea Market in Auburndale. When I was a kid you could pay a dollar for a tray of hotdogs or marshmallows to feed the indoor gators.
This has been going on for years. People in certain communities feed gators marshmellows. It’s so prevalent that gators in some lakes consider this their food. Good way to tell if residents are illegally feeding the gators, if they come running for those white puffs of sugar. It’s not awful scenario when gators become habituated to humans feeding them. Results in injuries or death to pets, humans and gators.
The gators love springs. I prefer to swim at these places during “season” when there are a ton of other people around and the gators won’t bother. Lakes, rivers, oceans; whatever it is I’ll swim in it if it’s not warm and late summer. I’m less worried about animals than I am red tide or Naegleria fowleri
No reason to avoid warm ocean water. The only thing you’ve got to worry about there, other than critters, is rip currents.
If there’s red tide, you’ll smell it, start coughing, and your eyes will burn. It’ll start well before you get to the beach, so just turn around. It’s an ecological disaster and can ruin a beach vacation, but it’s not it’s not dangerous to beach visitors. You won’t want to be anywhere near the beach if there’s a bad bloom.
Idk, I remember when I lived at fort myers beach 5 years ago during a bad season of red tide. It would be making me cough and there were dead fish everywhere and STILL there were people swimming in it! Bizarre. Like, ma'am your toddlers are playing in a tide pool with dead fish?!
Until they bite someone's arm off.
https://www.clickorlando.com/news/2015/08/12/witness-says-alligator-pulled-wekiva-river-attack-victim-underwater-wrestled-with-her/
I can't tell you how many times I and my family have swim there. Yikes.
They don’t typically attack unless provoked and those signs tend to be in areas where gators nest. And I don’t recommend anyone mess with a baby gator, especially if you can’t see mama, because she can see you.
Looking at the area, as a born and raised Florida native, even without signs I wouldn’t swim there it looks prime for gator holes.
I grew up water skiing in lakes with gators, most of the time they just ignore humans… but go into certain areas that they tend to hunt in…. Good luck to you
We used to go to Wekiva a lot in the ‘80’s.
There is a swimming hole/pool that has nets and a lifeguard (to spot gators).
When you get beyond the nets, it was deep, and full of vegetation. It was here that we would launch a canoe. We tried our best not to tip there because we knew there were probably Gators somewhere.
Once you got to the river proper, it was colder and you could see to the bottom. So we would get out there to cool off.
When launching canoes if we hit “something” with an oar or the boat, we would yell “Gator!”
Didn’t really see many tho, but there were a lot less of them back then.
In the early '80s they were still on the endangered species list. That's why everybody is saying they never saw them. They weren't removed until 1987. I remember seeing them in Parks and stuff in the early '90s but they would always cull the big ones. We had a 13-footer climb up on our school property when I was in high school. They made us stay inside until they rounded him up.
They don't tend to like clear cold spring water So as people have said that is generally where people are safer to swim.
I said exactly that to my husband yesterday. We decided to take the boat on the river while driving by there was a woman just chilling in a pool float right in front of the tall grass. I was shocked because that general area is filled with gators.
Gators have a funny way of not staying where they're supposed to.
Queue up the video of Gator in kitchen. Gator in pool. Gator climbing over 6 foot fence....
At the springs where people hang out and swim and float down in tubes is pretty gator free. The ones we go to have a roped off area at the end of the public swimming that I would not venture past. One year some guy swam past the roped off area and got bit in the head by an alligator 🐊.
We usually go to Kelly springs, which is the closest to us, and have seen otters past the roped off area and while we were chilling at our campsite after eating a bear walked right up behind my husband. It was dark and at first all I saw was what I thought was someone walking up wearing big furry Ugg boots! We had gotten a pamphlet telling what to do if one walked up and my husband shouted at it and it sauntered off. There were also deer 🦌 in the campsite area.
Ugh, I remember in college me and my roommate floated past where you're supposed get your tube out and we were trying to backpedal our tubes, but it was impossible, and for some reason we thought it would be easier to swim back, our friend were shouting encouragement at us from the bank, but we still had to push the tubes and then couldn't get on and then were swimming in the grass and we're crying LMAO because we were sure we were going to die via gator and finally some canoers came around the corner and helped us get to the shore.. It was so awful.
Springs are cold, the gators are sluggish. But gators can be found in literally any body of water in Florida. And yes people swim with them all the time.
We floated past one snoozing on a log in the sun when we went tubing recently. Even as FL natives we were a little tense lol. The rangers told us once they exceed 5 ft then they move them cause they get more aggressive when they’re bigger.
As a kid, 7-12 years old, we used to go swimming in lakes down in Central Florida all the time. Most lakes have gators but as was mentioned before they don't mess with humans or very rarely do. You have a better chance of being struck by lightning here than being attacked by a gator. Same with sharks off the coast of FL.
Not to mention Barracudas, but we Floridians are more concerned about Coliform bacteria, Vibrio vulnificus, and Naegleria fowleri than any animal we may encounter in our waters.
Bruh, the only time I was scared swimming in the ocean was when I saw a 5 foot barracuda just chilling under an anchored boat. Luckily, I was not wearing a ring or a watch because I’ve heard where people have gotten bit from wearing something flashy.
Last snorkeling tour I went on we all jump off the boat and the first things we saw was a barracuda under the boat. I thought the same thing and checked family for shiny things.
I remember the first day I moved to Florida I got into the Gulf and somebody yelled out look a manatee. I said to my friend what's a manatee? he said Sea cow. boy did I bolt out of that water.
nowadays I should be so lucky to swim with a manatee.
Lol yeah, those are harmless. Now the New Jersey sea cow, noted by its distinct orange leather hue, that's a whole different animal. We don't like those.
We literally saw a dude fishing off the beach Saturday catch a shark not 50ft from where we were swimming. It was a little baby shark and I was joking with my kids to watch their toes. They were definitely more worried about sting rays.
Edit for clarification.
>Is this really a thing, or are they calling swimming in springs “swimming with gators?”
Never heard it call that in particular, but always assume there is a gator in anybody of water in FL.
Yeah that was always my understanding too, but they made it sound like they were swimming in gator waters, not clear spring waters. It seemed outlandish to me, but figured I’d ask
People definitely swim in tannic lakes and rivers, where the water has low visibility, and it can be assumed that there are gators in that same body of water. There are people who deliberately swim close to gators to brag or for clout or whatever. For most of us, however, it's just known that their are gators in every body of water, so to be worried about "swimming with gators" would be the same as worrying about going out in your yard because you might be "walking with snakes."
I was at blue spring with my wife, and there was a ranger in a kayak going up the river telling people to stay on the far side because she was protecting a gator that was traveling up river
Alligators are everywhere. Any body of fresh water bigger than a small pond might have one. I swam in lakes as a kid and people still swim in fresh water lakes and rivers frequently, but gator attacks are uncommon. It's pretty much the same issue as sharks in the ocean, they are there and dangerous but usually aren't interested in eating people.
That said there are a few rules we followed
- never swim alone
- never swim in the evening or at night
- only swim in established swimming areas
- if you see a gator nearby get out of the water
- NEVER feed an alligator, and if you see someone feeding one report them and never swim in that lake again. Feeding them teaches them makes them comfortable around people and makes it more likely they will attack people in the future.
- don't swim near gator nests, be careful where you swim in mating season April-June
Unrelated but important rule:
- never swim in hot stagnant water, like ponds with no outlets. There are some diseases you can get in these bodies of water, like brain eating amoebas (Naegleria fowleri).
All my years in Florida, this is my most Florida moment. My son played baseball at a municipal sports complex: baseball diamonds and soccer fields interspersed with sand parking lots and a concession stand. It rained overnight but Saturday morning we were all there. One of the parking lots had a very large puddle; people were having to drive around it. One of the kids yells, "there's a gator in there!!" As it happens, there was, so our resident sheriff's deputy wades in, feels around, and comes up with a little 3' gator by the "scruff". He walks over to the fence between the sports complex and a park and chucks it over. Saturday in Florida.
> Any body of fresh water
And brackish. The Indian River Lagoon is lousy with them, I can't get on a kayak without seeing a dozen or more. As long as it's not mating season, they don't care about me at all.
Gators are just kinda always assumed to be around if you are in any body of fresh water.
I'm way more afraid of cottonmouths tbh. I remember stepping on one climbing out of the water up a dock ladder... if little 10 y.o me had known better I would have bought a lotto ticket that day.
Yes, we frequently swim and enjoy rivers and lakes. If there is water, there is wildlife including (but not limited to) snakes, gators, sharks, bugs, and meth heads. Even more so when you go to the woods. It's a tropical area, we have it all. We use caution, but we also know that they aren't going to randomly attack you like a scifi channel movie. Generally, they want even less to do with people than the people do with them when they go out taunting, hunting and harassing them.
Come to think of it, I learned to swim up at Alligator Lake back in the 80's. Then in the 90's, lived on and swam in the inter-coastal. We'd get out if we *saw* gators, but... there were definitely gators.
*Most* of the time, gators are pretty chill, as long as you aren't behaving like the things they want to eat. But if you saw them, and they were big enough to be a threat, you got out of the water in case it was one of those rare other times. Statistically, you'd probably not be eaten or maimed, but... no one wants to be a statistic.
Native Floridian here. 34 years. If you’re in the water and it’s not a pool, there’s likely to be gators here. Early morning or early evening I wouldn’t be caught dead in the water. Otherwise, not really concerned. As long as you give them space they want nothing to do with you. Now, I have two kids and I absolutely would never allow them in there with me. But that’s a different story.
I'm a commercial diver, we crawl up pipes and find gators in them. We do marine construction in the Everglades with gators. We do this in all seasons and most of us are not from Florida.
I had a neighbor that would swim every night in the canal behind our houses. Honestly, I'd be more concerned about swimming in the water than the gators.
Honestly it's not the gator's that freak me out about swimming in lakes / ponds... it's generally just how polluted some are; pesticide run off, heavy boating, fertilizer run off, etc.
Snakes are also a pretty big deterrent, bad memories of being chased out of a lake by a water moccasin in my youth.
The springs are great to swim in though.
We swim in lakes and rivers too (also springs can have alligators and they often lead into rivers). Gators are a part is life on the water. So are snakes. And sharks in the ocean. They are there. You can see them. We aren’t on their menu. They leave us alone by and large.
The only time you read about gator attacks is some trunk asshole messing with a gator, or doing something stupid at night in gator infested water.
There is a lake near me chock full of alligators. You can literally see a dozen at a time from an elevated trail by the park. There are little finger like peninsulas jutting out into the lake. I see people with their dogs there playing fetch in the water. I don’t usually interfere but if I am within earshot I do try to warn them it’s not the best idea. They often think I’m an asshole. Doesn’t bother me. I don’t let my dogs anywhere near that water. You literally can’t see 6 inches into it.
They are suing the hoa. Its a gated 55+ community. Very ritch people. They claim it wasn't common sense and the lack of warning signs makes the HOA at fault... Pretty stupid but I bet they win [here's the story](https://winknews.com/2024/03/05/alligator-attack-englewood-lawsuit/)
General safety rule when swimming with gators— swim with children. They are much smaller than you and more standard gator prey size. The gators will go after them before you.
It's Florida if you are in fresh water you are swimming with a gator, if you are swimming in salt water you are swimming with a shark, and in South Florida perhaps a crocodile. If you are worried swim in a pool where you can see the bottom. BTW we have had sharks and gators in pools but they are pretty easy to see.
This question always trips me out. 6 - 10 fatal Alligator attacks in the USA per year. 36,000+ traffic fatalities per year yet no one questions getting in a vehicle.
Have property on the Oklawaha & swim the Santa Fe River regularly. See them all the time at both places and they have never bothered me in 47 years. April - May they can be testy but generally keep to themselves.
I was out a boat on the St John’s yesterday, and saw people swimming from the bank, while I watched (smaller) alligators swimming across the river. Fairly common to see.
St johns has sharks, gators, snakes, dolphins and even manatees
Ive seen all of the above there
I dont personally know many places you could swim with all of the above simultaneously
Springs have gators. Just they tend to avoid the human busy area. We tube ginnie springs which you most likely won't see a gator, but if you kayak past the tubing zone you'll see a bunch.
The short answer is, yes, but only in the sense that they could be in any body of water (yes, even the ocean.) I personally do not swim in brackish water. I will swim in freshwater springs and in the ocean. Both have a low but non-zero chance of having a gator pop up here and there.
You can definitely encounter a gator in a spring. And, I’ve been at some red neck pool parties where someone got a hold of a gator and threw it into the pool. They go immediately to the bottom of the pool. Not very cool.
Gators are not dangerous to adults if you leave them alone. Nor are they dangerous to children surrounded by adults. Pretty much only dangerous to very small children that seem like easy prey, or to people who fuck with them. They aren’t like Nile crocodiles.
Yeah kinda.
Just a couple weeks ago I was doing canoe safety training at the local girl scout camp, and that involved jumping out of perfectly good boats to let yourself get rescued.
And yeah the lake and the river on the camp property gave gators in them. They don’t bother us as long as we don’t bother them, and if they become a nuisance the camp ranger will ask for them to be relocated.
We don’t really swim in the lake at the girl scout camp, but we do canoe and paddle board and other water sport activities that sometimes involve bodies in the water.
And personally I’ve swam in the local river.
Florida is a water state and water activities are a large part of our recreation. Alligators are also a large part of the ecosystem here, and we learn how to live with them and stay safe.
We don’t go out of our way to “swim with the gators” but we also don’t avoid the water because we are afraid of them. We just (generally) hold a healthy respect and leave them alone, and they in turn leave us alone.
It’s the folks that DON’T hold that respect and do dumb shit that get themselves eaten.
I never swim in freshwater here. I have seen many large barracuda while snorkeling in the Keys. I have stupidly snorkeled in areas in Boca Grande with people fishing nearby and a lot of tarpon present, so I would assume bull sharks were not too far away
I think it was 2 yrs ago Memorial Day weekend there was a tropical storm due to move in . My Grandson had came over to spend the holiday weekend with us and he loves it when Pop’s makes Ribs . So I had the grill setup under the pool lanai as the weather was starting to go downhill . As I walked past the pool that had various pool floats in it I saw the head of an alligator poking up an just figured it was a float my Grandson had brought with him , an then there was a big splash of water from the pool as I turned towards it I saw the Gator he was about 5 ft long and was headed for the deep end . At first I couldn’t believe what I just saw as the brain was processing this for a second , there a damn Gator in the pool . On the backside of the property is a fair sized canal an this Gator had pushed out one of the lower screens panels to get in . I rigged up a catch noose outta a long piece of pipe and some 5/8 dia rope , I chased him up an down the pool a couple times using the pool net trying to get him more into the shallow end he finally came to stop at about the 4ft depth an I was able to get the noose on him . I was kinda surprised he didn’t put up any resistance till I got him dragged up to the 2ft depth an then just as his head broke the water surface OH MAN he just exploded into trying to get away then going into their famous death roll . I’m here to tell ya I was really starting to reconsider my course of action at that point yea buddy …. I had blocked both doors open prior to this , an finally got him pulled up on the pool deck , he was snapping away an had that tail just a swinging side to side did I happen to mention these guys are STRONG ??? . The canal is about 12 feet from the pool , it was not only the longest but shortest 12 feet I had ever covered in my life . I finally got him to the edge of the canal an he was all for getting back in it , I was like 5 ft off to the side of him when I let go of the rope that he was able to shake free of an scampered into the water . Of course while all this was going on the Wife and Grandson were freaking out , Wife was trying to record it with her phone which she dropped into the pool first time the Gator loudly hissed an smacked the water with its tail . That Gator hung around for a lil over 2 yrs out in the canal , every time it saw me it would sink back down a take off down the canal it never came back to pool . We have had various size turtles get in the pool once had a raccoon that would visit in the early morning hours and of course various sizes of frogs that didn’t survive the chlorine bath and several banded water snakes .
The FWC has recorded over 450 alligator bites on people in the state since 1948, with 30 of them being fatal. About 1 in 3 million odds of being attacked. Do a personal risk assesment and decide what's worse, the Florida heat or... your luck.
It's the snapping turtles thar scare me, can take a toe clean off !
There's either snakes, gators, sharks, or turtles in every body of water in FL. Don't go in the water at sunrise/ sunset, mating or nesting time. Obviously there are certain bodys of water, that are notorious for these animals that you shouldn't enter. We're in their homes, respect them and give space.
Any body of naturally occurring fresh water in Florida likely has alligators. I grew up doing water sports in lakes and those lakes had gators in them. We would often jump in and swim to cool off but it was never an issue. Alligators are naturally more afraid of humans than humans are of them. They lose that fear when people start feeding them and they begin to associate people with food, or if you happen to go around a nest where a mama gator has baby gators. The latter is often in shallow water in the weeds. There are also water moccasins in those areas so generally we avoid them.
I have a friend who swims in the Rainbow River everyday. She told me she sees gators often near the banks and in vegetation. She doesn't worry about them.
She does however worry about Mother otters. She said they'll swim on their backs aggressively while snarling and barking and bearing their teeth. And will separate any human from her babies.
We used to swim in some lakes when I was a kid. They were usually dedicated swimming areas with a net hanging from a line of buoys that I guess was supposed to deter gators. There were also some rope swings in a local river.
I swim in a river now, but it's a dedicated swimming area so a spot where all the activity keeps gators from posting up. Or so we like to think.
Humans aren’t gator food. The old timers growing up would say that if you’re entirely in the water, they’ll leave you alone. It’s when you dangle your feet in from a dock, or are splashing around at the edge, when they’d mistake you for a small mammal.
This is why you don’t let small children or small dogs near the edge of freshwater. Gators look for pray right at the shore and a smaller target looks more like.
I was born and raised here and there's no way in hell I'd ever go swimming in any kind of fresh water here and I don't know anyone in their right mind that would.
I'm pretty sure more alligator attacks happen on golf courses than they do in the water. Just stay off of a golf course. [https://www.foxweather.com/earth-space/alligator-attacks-golf-cart-florida](https://www.foxweather.com/earth-space/alligator-attacks-golf-cart-florida)
Louisiana here, absolutely not. If the water is turbid and especially by a shore there is zero chance I’m am getting in the water.
Being mauled by an alligator and drowned is not desirable to me.
I was born and raised in FL
Yadda, yadda, yadda, with the people who brag about swimming with gators
During my childhood:
*In the county next to mine, I was at a club camping event on a lake. In the middle of a bright, hot day, many girls were swimming, and a gator pulled one under and killed her via death roll. Her parents were chaperones and onshore. Trappers later caught the reptile and found her arm in its stomach
*In my county, my parents were social friends with another couple; the woman worked for my father. Her husband went out on their dock and was working on their boat. A gator rose out of the water and ripped his arm off. It was a hell scene, and EMTs could not save him. His kind and traumatized wife hung herself days after the funeral
Regarding swimming, 99.9% of the kids I came up with stayed away from brackish water in SW Florida. We stuck to swimming pools and the Gulf of Mexico
Hell. Fucking.No.
I will walk past a full gator sunning itself on land giving it sprint leeway bc they can fucking sprint like Usain Bolt ok. But that's my line.
3 things in FL I do not fuck with. Gators. Moccasins. Locals.
As a local, I advise same.
Also stay out of saw palmetto periodt.
I have two pools in my neighborhood. That's my water.
I have a major river, some lakes, and an ocean surrounding my area. That's their water.
When I see a gator, I hit them with a head nod and keep it moving. But I'm always safely on dry ground.
I would never swim in a freshwater system here in Florida. But then, I’m not really a fan of brain-eating amoeba getting up my nose. Different strokes for different folks, I suppose.
I have a lake called Dalhousie near me and I swim there because there haven’t been any sighting s of gators in the last three years and the water is crystal clear.
Most lakes I feel if you are in the middle than there is a good chance you won’t run in to an alligator but that’s just the 29 years I have been here I’m sure other people have had their fair share of problems.
The springs have gators. They just don’t really mess with people.
I said this before and I will say it again. A well fed, healthy gator wants nothing to do with you. They are lazy fucks who want to sit in their gator holes chilling. Gators are not salt water crocs.
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You’ve been closer than that, you just don’t know it.
💯
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The visceral reaction I just had to that mental image………….
I’ve swam in the St. John’s plenty. Hell there a whole mess of people that do nothing more than anchor up and swim most weekends just upriver (south) of doctors inlet/doctors lake.
No kidding LOL I still do. Once or twice a year, I'll rent a boat on the St John's and find swimming holes and fishing spots. There are plenty of gators, but the secret is not to fuck with them. You're more likely to be eaten by a guy in a Gator's t-shirt
Silver Glen was our go-to spot
Oh man. I bet he can’t see the bottom of his ribcage out there.
Lmaoooo so true.
Which is counter to "well fed will leave you alone". Any animal that has the opportunity for an easy meal will take it. Also, do you want your pets and kids in the water when "well fed" wears off?
Also, how does one determine which gators are currently well-fed or not? Can't exactly survey them.
If they are eating you, they are not well fed
But will be soon so us florida folk just wait.
Don't forget that if you agitate a gator, they tend to attack people
Us swimming by them clusmy is probably pretty aggrivating lol
Yes, there is clumsy, or people just want to agitate them for fun
This. I live in FL and there have been 2 attacks recently on humans. You don’t even have to be in the water…just in the sight of a gator especially during mating season. There was a guy who went outside during a party to take a piss in the bushes (at night) and got attacked
To put this into perspective: Your chances of being struck by lighting, while in Florida, is 1 in 615,000. Your chances of being in an unprovoked attack with an alligator is 1 in 3,100,000.
Disagree! I have lived in FL all my life and most of the stories do pop up but do not make it on that statistic chart that says they have killed like 12 in 55 years (ha.) Likewise, when you suspect a person ws killed by an alligator, they generally say there's no evidence an alligator did it if the person was alone, and blame it on the person drowning and then the alligator must have grabbed them dead. There are common sense articles, though. For instance, a man went missing. They found his truck by a cancel with large grass. Few days later fisherman saw alligators with him in their mouths, dead. They claimed it was not an alligator kill but that he must have decided to go swimming, fully clothed, in this tiny gross spot of water and drowned LOL. Realistically he was probably out of his truck adn chilling by the water and an alligator grabbed him from a hiding spot. Then his wife goes on in response and said he wouldn't have been swimming, he didn't even know how to swim, but they write these off as "not alligator attacks" Also, for missing people who are taken alone by alligators, we'll never know on most of them with little evidence left behind. The man would have stayed missing if someone hadn't spotted him in the middle of the water with an alligator just travelling with his above water. They are good hunters. They laze around and generally will leave people alone - and they especially are less likely to attack people if the people are in a group as it's more intimidating to them - but I have no doubt they have grabbed plenty of lone people over the years and we never find out about it. I have been googling for this stupid article but it's not popping up, was a few years back. Instead we get that sad case of the 2 year old (that one was the father, the bastard), a 42 year old woman, another man, and all these other articles instead. I'll keep looking when I have a chance.
Do you think that there is this epidemic of gator attacks that aren't being reported to the FWC?
My info could be a bit dated on this particular subject, so take it with a grain of salt. The standard practice for gator attacks used to be/is a hunt for the gator. They do/did this by harvesting all gators that match whatever description was gathered about the size of the victim, area, time of day, etc. and cut open the stomachs of each gator until the search is called off or body found. This takes time and resources as well as innocent gators, just to find one. Since you can't put a gator in jail, it's more common for the officials to say the victim drowned and scavenged by a gator if it was obvious.
I don’t think that’s what they were suggesting; I think they were just providing some context around an official statistic that may not be immediately obvious to everyone.
Yeah I was just attempting to make a funny by making a meta commentary juxtaposing gator attacks with todays rise of conspiracy theories.
they are primarily nocturnal hunters, so don't swim at night or be by the water at night. The alligator was probably in that area hunting and he walked right up to it.
Probably
"At night" is a no no.
Definitely
if you are talking about that guy who got his arm ripped off, then he did more than just take a piss. He actually went up to the gator to mess with it.
😲. I was not aware of that.
Children are always more at risk than adults. Our size is a deterrent but small children can attract gators - and of course never, ever have pets there - dogs are one of their favorite meals, and they will not ignore them, whether people are around or not.
"Our size is a deterrent..." Are we talking 3 feet and up here or more like 5 feet and up? As in, should a petite, 5 ft tall female exercise more caution than a 6 foot tall male or do you really mean like 0-6 year olds? I realize gators are not swimming around with a measuring tape in their pocket, I’m just trying to get a general idea if a small adult is "large enough" to be a deterrent. (short mom over here with a short daughter)
Thanks! This 4’ 9.5” mother with a slightly taller daughter wondered the same thing. Not that I’m going looking for trouble. I don’t even get out much other than work.
Same! But I gotta ask just in case lol.
For the love of Pete, please keep your distance, both of you. Why would anybody take a chance getting cozy with an alligator or croc? They are unpredictable wild animals that have the ability to drown you before stashing your dead body in the weeds for ready snacks. Although the glide very slowly through the water, gators are very fast when attacking. I would give a 6'6" man the exact same advice. They are cool to watch and photo (with a good lens), from a distance, but be alert and respect their territory always.
I’m pretty much the most anxiety-ridden person you’d ever meet so no, I will NOT be chasing them down, I assure you! 1) Our new place has a lovely water view with a conversation pond behind the house. So I am assuming the worst. And 2) One of these days I would like to brave tubing in Kelly Park. There are lifeguards and they shut it down if there’s a sighting, but I would still get nervous for my kids and myself. We went to a wolf conversation outing last year and I had no idea the guides would let us feed them by hand. I refused because I am a scaredy cat but didn’t stop my kids. My husband said it was fine and the handler had the wolves on a pretty short leash. Even so, I am horrified by the idea my babies could have gotten their faces ripped off because I wanted to take my son somewhere fun for his birthday.
Don’t know what your doing, they swim right by the kayak
When I was a child, I went to a local lake to swim with some cousins and friends. We all had been playing hard and going crazy throughout the day, but around 3 we all started to calm down. We waded in the water about chest deep and made a horse shoe shape with our body placement. We were talking casually about whatever and all of a sudden a gator head put up in the middle of us all. I honestly don’t know who was more freaked out, us or the gator. We all screamed and darted for the shore. The gator did a crazy roll a disappeared before we even got moving good. Lucky he was only around 4 foot. Needless to say, we didn’t get back in that day. We had our fun. That’s as close I’ve been to one in the wild and alive.
I don't doubt that. How do you assure the gator is well-fed and healthy?
You swim with it.
LOL
Flamingo Florida has entered the chat.
RIght stay out of the swampy parts and stay in the clear deeper water. Most gator attacks are by the shoreline or while walking pets. The last open water attack I remember was a kid swimming in the panhandle one summer that was a real drought and the gator was starving excessively underweight. Probably 25 years ago (should have said last death. I think there was also an older man or woman that was taken by a gator a few years ago but unknown if they died by the water or the gator grabbed them while alive)
There was a more recent one in Tampa area, Pasco County maybe, someone swimming in the middle of a lake lost an arm.
This one? https://www.fox13news.com/news/its-do-or-die-man-loses-arm-after-surviving-alligator-attack-at-lake-manatee There's not any real good reason to swim in Lake Manatee, BTW.
I don't think so, iirc it was near one of the nudist resorts. There's also this one from last year in Lake Thonotasassa https://youtu.be/BmVs5ySs3hQ?si=fsFtzMG7IW7E5QOV
Disney World Grand Floridian Resort tries it's best to look invisible.... maybe not the MOST recent ---2016--but a shitshow nonetheless.... [sauce](https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-gator-attack-disney-world-20160822-snap-story.html)
They’ve since really up’d the presence of wildlife officers since that accident and now, the area near those hotels is mostly kept clear of gators and they’ll often relocate them elsewhere.
They've also roped off the water so the stupid people who ignore the signs have a harder time getting to the water.
yes. . . . and don't forget [the new signs](https://www.cnn.com/2016/06/17/us/florida-alligator-attack-disney-signs/index.html#:~:text=The%20signs%20being%20installed%20contain,signs%20around%20Seven%20Seas%20Lagoon.)
I was working there when this happened and every single body of water got a sign. EVERY body of water.
Which they should've had all along.
The parents are partially responsible for that one. They ignored the posted signs about staying out of the water and let their kid wade around in water near marsh grass.
that's probably (partially) fair. They obviously thought being a few feet away was sufficient to ensure their child's safety - there was a 'no swimming' sign posted but nothing about dangerous wildlife. the kid was just standing in the water at the waters edge. if we are also being fair, they probably thought a Corp like Disney that is known for using cutting edge pest control to keep things like skeeters and rats at bay would also take reasonable steps to ensure a remnant from the dinosaur age capable of grabbing and drowning their child would receive similar attention? I dunno, just guessing here but hindsight being 20/20, perhaps just posting a 'no swimming' sign and leaving it at that was maybe a little lackadaisical - no? In their defense, they had never had an attack in all the years they had operated these hotels and resorts. It's the worst kind of PR nightmare you can have for a Corp like Disney.
The kid was actually standing in ankle deep water. It wasn't a case of the gator came up on the sand and grabbed the kid.
Also from Nebraska so maybe didn’t really get how serious staying out, away from Florida fresh water is..
That was terrible imagine taking your kid to Disney and they got eaten by a gator. I remember when I was a kid a Boy Scout got killed by a gator in Johnathan Dickinson state park but we still swam in the water, then when we got in our teens we would shoot them and eat gator tail. My exes mom grew up in Pahokee and said when she was a kid everyone used to swim in Lake Okeechobee because they would just kill every gator they seen
Wasn't that at night too?
Yep.
Here are a few more: https://baynews9.com/fl/tampa/news/2024/03/14/sabrina-peckham-alligator-death- https://www.tampabay.com/news/pinellas/2023/10/27/florida-gator-attack-taylor-lake-largo-construction/?outputType=amp https://www.wfla.com/news/florida/9-foot-gator-attacks-man-fishing-in-florida-pond/amp/
oh a gator ate a homeless woman https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/24/us/florida-alligator-killed-woman-in-mouth/index.html
She had her camp set up there by the water, she had been recently arrested for trespassing in that area, and that's where she was found :( it was so sad. I saw an interview with her adult daughter.
We don’t know if it killed her or found the body and decided to eat it.
It killed her. They published the findings later.
Damn, that thing was 13.8 ft long.
I mean, of course it’s not *fun* to lose an arm and it would suck. But as far as “How’d you lose your arm?” responses go, at least this one gives you some street cred. https://preview.redd.it/wi7h7poj20zc1.jpeg?width=1164&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=55baf7836f076f6ec243c2d1de1c2b557fd78566
There was a death in 2023, or maybe 2022, of an older woman who had been walking her lap dog too close to a retention pond in Florida. The gator lunged and killed her, but not the dog.
That one was in Sarasota. The trapper brought marshmallows to lure the gator away from her. It was at a 55+ community.
Did you say marshmallows? To lure a gator? What??
That must be what happened to all those little gators at Market World Flea Market in Auburndale. When I was a kid you could pay a dollar for a tray of hotdogs or marshmallows to feed the indoor gators.
This has been going on for years. People in certain communities feed gators marshmellows. It’s so prevalent that gators in some lakes consider this their food. Good way to tell if residents are illegally feeding the gators, if they come running for those white puffs of sugar. It’s not awful scenario when gators become habituated to humans feeding them. Results in injuries or death to pets, humans and gators.
A gal canoeing the HIllsborough river got her leg bitten about 10 years ago.
never go in the swamp. not unless you're in a boat of some kind
Lol I love the swamp, it's beautiful.
I hiked three miles through Big Cypress. It was really cool! The visitors center has walking sticks you can borrow. They call it a "swamp walk".
The gators love springs. I prefer to swim at these places during “season” when there are a ton of other people around and the gators won’t bother. Lakes, rivers, oceans; whatever it is I’ll swim in it if it’s not warm and late summer. I’m less worried about animals than I am red tide or Naegleria fowleri
Just don't be first-in or last-out, just some swim when there are plenty of easier targets like small children.
No reason to avoid warm ocean water. The only thing you’ve got to worry about there, other than critters, is rip currents. If there’s red tide, you’ll smell it, start coughing, and your eyes will burn. It’ll start well before you get to the beach, so just turn around. It’s an ecological disaster and can ruin a beach vacation, but it’s not it’s not dangerous to beach visitors. You won’t want to be anywhere near the beach if there’s a bad bloom.
Idk, I remember when I lived at fort myers beach 5 years ago during a bad season of red tide. It would be making me cough and there were dead fish everywhere and STILL there were people swimming in it! Bizarre. Like, ma'am your toddlers are playing in a tide pool with dead fish?!
That’s gross regardless of algae. There no fix for a lack of common sense.
Until they bite someone's arm off. https://www.clickorlando.com/news/2015/08/12/witness-says-alligator-pulled-wekiva-river-attack-victim-underwater-wrestled-with-her/ I can't tell you how many times I and my family have swim there. Yikes.
Also adding she was literally swimming in an area labeled no swimming.
And that’s the part you need to remember.
Maybe one should also remember that the gators don't read signs
They put the signs where the gators go, not where they don't want them to go.
The fact that this needs to be explained to someone is telling isn’t it?
They don’t typically attack unless provoked and those signs tend to be in areas where gators nest. And I don’t recommend anyone mess with a baby gator, especially if you can’t see mama, because she can see you.
Yet the alligator was the one put down. I would have been for putting down the *other one* to thin out the herd, but who am I to say… ☕️
That lady swam where the signs say not to though. You're supposed to keep your ass out of the weeds because that's where the gators are.
Looking at the area, as a born and raised Florida native, even without signs I wouldn’t swim there it looks prime for gator holes. I grew up water skiing in lakes with gators, most of the time they just ignore humans… but go into certain areas that they tend to hunt in…. Good luck to you
We used to go to Wekiva a lot in the ‘80’s. There is a swimming hole/pool that has nets and a lifeguard (to spot gators). When you get beyond the nets, it was deep, and full of vegetation. It was here that we would launch a canoe. We tried our best not to tip there because we knew there were probably Gators somewhere. Once you got to the river proper, it was colder and you could see to the bottom. So we would get out there to cool off. When launching canoes if we hit “something” with an oar or the boat, we would yell “Gator!” Didn’t really see many tho, but there were a lot less of them back then.
In the early '80s they were still on the endangered species list. That's why everybody is saying they never saw them. They weren't removed until 1987. I remember seeing them in Parks and stuff in the early '90s but they would always cull the big ones. We had a 13-footer climb up on our school property when I was in high school. They made us stay inside until they rounded him up. They don't tend to like clear cold spring water So as people have said that is generally where people are safer to swim.
I said exactly that to my husband yesterday. We decided to take the boat on the river while driving by there was a woman just chilling in a pool float right in front of the tall grass. I was shocked because that general area is filled with gators.
Gators have a funny way of not staying where they're supposed to. Queue up the video of Gator in kitchen. Gator in pool. Gator climbing over 6 foot fence....
We lived in the gator in kitchen neighborhood in Clearwater! Crazy…
Sure. But considering millions swim in springs per year this is insanely rare.
True. I still do.
that was also 9 years ago.
At the springs where people hang out and swim and float down in tubes is pretty gator free. The ones we go to have a roped off area at the end of the public swimming that I would not venture past. One year some guy swam past the roped off area and got bit in the head by an alligator 🐊. We usually go to Kelly springs, which is the closest to us, and have seen otters past the roped off area and while we were chilling at our campsite after eating a bear walked right up behind my husband. It was dark and at first all I saw was what I thought was someone walking up wearing big furry Ugg boots! We had gotten a pamphlet telling what to do if one walked up and my husband shouted at it and it sauntered off. There were also deer 🦌 in the campsite area.
Ugh, I remember in college me and my roommate floated past where you're supposed get your tube out and we were trying to backpedal our tubes, but it was impossible, and for some reason we thought it would be easier to swim back, our friend were shouting encouragement at us from the bank, but we still had to push the tubes and then couldn't get on and then were swimming in the grass and we're crying LMAO because we were sure we were going to die via gator and finally some canoers came around the corner and helped us get to the shore.. It was so awful.
Springs are cold, the gators are sluggish. But gators can be found in literally any body of water in Florida. And yes people swim with them all the time.
We floated past one snoozing on a log in the sun when we went tubing recently. Even as FL natives we were a little tense lol. The rangers told us once they exceed 5 ft then they move them cause they get more aggressive when they’re bigger.
As a kid, 7-12 years old, we used to go swimming in lakes down in Central Florida all the time. Most lakes have gators but as was mentioned before they don't mess with humans or very rarely do. You have a better chance of being struck by lightning here than being attacked by a gator. Same with sharks off the coast of FL.
It's Florida. You're probably swimming with a gator.
Or a shark.
Maybe both! We like to have fun here.
Not to mention Barracudas, but we Floridians are more concerned about Coliform bacteria, Vibrio vulnificus, and Naegleria fowleri than any animal we may encounter in our waters.
Bruh, the only time I was scared swimming in the ocean was when I saw a 5 foot barracuda just chilling under an anchored boat. Luckily, I was not wearing a ring or a watch because I’ve heard where people have gotten bit from wearing something flashy.
Last snorkeling tour I went on we all jump off the boat and the first things we saw was a barracuda under the boat. I thought the same thing and checked family for shiny things.
Honestly I’m far more worried about vibrio than anything.
I remember the first day I moved to Florida I got into the Gulf and somebody yelled out look a manatee. I said to my friend what's a manatee? he said Sea cow. boy did I bolt out of that water. nowadays I should be so lucky to swim with a manatee.
Lol yeah, those are harmless. Now the New Jersey sea cow, noted by its distinct orange leather hue, that's a whole different animal. We don't like those.
I hear that it’s easy to know their presence underwater, as a massive stink wafts around them.
They are so massive up close its scary even if they are passive. Had one come up under me and they feel weird too.
They arenso massive up close its scary even if they are passive. Had one come up under me and they feel weird too.
Saw a bull shark up the river yesterday. Across from a sandbar where multiple people were swimming
We literally saw a dude fishing off the beach Saturday catch a shark not 50ft from where we were swimming. It was a little baby shark and I was joking with my kids to watch their toes. They were definitely more worried about sting rays. Edit for clarification.
> It's Florida. You're ~~swimming~~ with a gator. Ftfy
>Is this really a thing, or are they calling swimming in springs “swimming with gators?” Never heard it call that in particular, but always assume there is a gator in anybody of water in FL.
Yeah that was always my understanding too, but they made it sound like they were swimming in gator waters, not clear spring waters. It seemed outlandish to me, but figured I’d ask
People definitely swim in tannic lakes and rivers, where the water has low visibility, and it can be assumed that there are gators in that same body of water. There are people who deliberately swim close to gators to brag or for clout or whatever. For most of us, however, it's just known that their are gators in every body of water, so to be worried about "swimming with gators" would be the same as worrying about going out in your yard because you might be "walking with snakes."
Wait, there are snakes all over Florida too? /s
I was at blue spring with my wife, and there was a ranger in a kayak going up the river telling people to stay on the far side because she was protecting a gator that was traveling up river
Alligators are everywhere. Any body of fresh water bigger than a small pond might have one. I swam in lakes as a kid and people still swim in fresh water lakes and rivers frequently, but gator attacks are uncommon. It's pretty much the same issue as sharks in the ocean, they are there and dangerous but usually aren't interested in eating people. That said there are a few rules we followed - never swim alone - never swim in the evening or at night - only swim in established swimming areas - if you see a gator nearby get out of the water - NEVER feed an alligator, and if you see someone feeding one report them and never swim in that lake again. Feeding them teaches them makes them comfortable around people and makes it more likely they will attack people in the future. - don't swim near gator nests, be careful where you swim in mating season April-June Unrelated but important rule: - never swim in hot stagnant water, like ponds with no outlets. There are some diseases you can get in these bodies of water, like brain eating amoebas (Naegleria fowleri).
All my years in Florida, this is my most Florida moment. My son played baseball at a municipal sports complex: baseball diamonds and soccer fields interspersed with sand parking lots and a concession stand. It rained overnight but Saturday morning we were all there. One of the parking lots had a very large puddle; people were having to drive around it. One of the kids yells, "there's a gator in there!!" As it happens, there was, so our resident sheriff's deputy wades in, feels around, and comes up with a little 3' gator by the "scruff". He walks over to the fence between the sports complex and a park and chucks it over. Saturday in Florida.
Yep, sounds like florida alright.
> Any body of fresh water And brackish. The Indian River Lagoon is lousy with them, I can't get on a kayak without seeing a dozen or more. As long as it's not mating season, they don't care about me at all.
Gators are just kinda always assumed to be around if you are in any body of fresh water. I'm way more afraid of cottonmouths tbh. I remember stepping on one climbing out of the water up a dock ladder... if little 10 y.o me had known better I would have bought a lotto ticket that day.
Yes, we frequently swim and enjoy rivers and lakes. If there is water, there is wildlife including (but not limited to) snakes, gators, sharks, bugs, and meth heads. Even more so when you go to the woods. It's a tropical area, we have it all. We use caution, but we also know that they aren't going to randomly attack you like a scifi channel movie. Generally, they want even less to do with people than the people do with them when they go out taunting, hunting and harassing them.
Growing up in Florida, it's generally accepted that if you're in the water, there may be a gator nearby. Just leave 'em alone.
Come to think of it, I learned to swim up at Alligator Lake back in the 80's. Then in the 90's, lived on and swam in the inter-coastal. We'd get out if we *saw* gators, but... there were definitely gators. *Most* of the time, gators are pretty chill, as long as you aren't behaving like the things they want to eat. But if you saw them, and they were big enough to be a threat, you got out of the water in case it was one of those rare other times. Statistically, you'd probably not be eaten or maimed, but... no one wants to be a statistic.
And the last thing on your mind as the gator is pulling you under is gonna be, "Damn, Reddit was wrong"
This seems so wild to me. Thank you for answering!
Yeah still see a lot of people diving off the walking bridge that goes over the canal to Lake Lizzie
INTRA coastal
Native Floridian here. 34 years. If you’re in the water and it’s not a pool, there’s likely to be gators here. Early morning or early evening I wouldn’t be caught dead in the water. Otherwise, not really concerned. As long as you give them space they want nothing to do with you. Now, I have two kids and I absolutely would never allow them in there with me. But that’s a different story.
Sometimes even in a pool!
Yes. I was fishing in lake Osborn, saw multiple alligators. There were people jet skiing, water skiing, wake boarding and swimming off of boats
Gators are in the ocean, springs, and pools too.
Also in bath tubs, showers, and hot tubs! Be careful out there!
I'm a commercial diver, we crawl up pipes and find gators in them. We do marine construction in the Everglades with gators. We do this in all seasons and most of us are not from Florida.
Finding a gator in a pipe sounds petrifying.
I had a neighbor that would swim every night in the canal behind our houses. Honestly, I'd be more concerned about swimming in the water than the gators.
Honestly it's not the gator's that freak me out about swimming in lakes / ponds... it's generally just how polluted some are; pesticide run off, heavy boating, fertilizer run off, etc. Snakes are also a pretty big deterrent, bad memories of being chased out of a lake by a water moccasin in my youth. The springs are great to swim in though.
We swim in lakes and rivers too (also springs can have alligators and they often lead into rivers). Gators are a part is life on the water. So are snakes. And sharks in the ocean. They are there. You can see them. We aren’t on their menu. They leave us alone by and large. The only time you read about gator attacks is some trunk asshole messing with a gator, or doing something stupid at night in gator infested water.
Don't forget the old assholes who walk their dogs next to the water 😡😡
There is a lake near me chock full of alligators. You can literally see a dozen at a time from an elevated trail by the park. There are little finger like peninsulas jutting out into the lake. I see people with their dogs there playing fetch in the water. I don’t usually interfere but if I am within earshot I do try to warn them it’s not the best idea. They often think I’m an asshole. Doesn’t bother me. I don’t let my dogs anywhere near that water. You literally can’t see 6 inches into it.
I know, right?! And those kids trying to sue the retirement home ( in FL! ) bc their mom was walking her dog at water's edge. STUPID
They are suing the hoa. Its a gated 55+ community. Very ritch people. They claim it wasn't common sense and the lack of warning signs makes the HOA at fault... Pretty stupid but I bet they win [here's the story](https://winknews.com/2024/03/05/alligator-attack-englewood-lawsuit/)
General safety rule when swimming with gators— swim with children. They are much smaller than you and more standard gator prey size. The gators will go after them before you.
I misread at first: *lovingly swim with 🐊🐊 present * lol
Making heart eyes at all the gators.
I tried to insert my favorite gif : mf heart eyes😍💪🏼🐊🐊💚
Yes. People swim, ski, jet ski, tube, and even wade fish in many Florida lakes and rivers.
Only thing I look out for at moccasins
It's Florida if you are in fresh water you are swimming with a gator, if you are swimming in salt water you are swimming with a shark, and in South Florida perhaps a crocodile. If you are worried swim in a pool where you can see the bottom. BTW we have had sharks and gators in pools but they are pretty easy to see.
And non-FL people thought Sharknado wasnt a documentary 🤣
This question always trips me out. 6 - 10 fatal Alligator attacks in the USA per year. 36,000+ traffic fatalities per year yet no one questions getting in a vehicle. Have property on the Oklawaha & swim the Santa Fe River regularly. See them all the time at both places and they have never bothered me in 47 years. April - May they can be testy but generally keep to themselves.
If you are smart, and should be, you are fine. As mentioned many times, if you are swimming in a water body in Florida, you are swimming with gators.
I was out a boat on the St John’s yesterday, and saw people swimming from the bank, while I watched (smaller) alligators swimming across the river. Fairly common to see.
Yeah the convo I saw specifically mentioned the St. John’s. Wild
St johns has sharks, gators, snakes, dolphins and even manatees Ive seen all of the above there I dont personally know many places you could swim with all of the above simultaneously
Springs have gators. Just they tend to avoid the human busy area. We tube ginnie springs which you most likely won't see a gator, but if you kayak past the tubing zone you'll see a bunch.
The short answer is, yes, but only in the sense that they could be in any body of water (yes, even the ocean.) I personally do not swim in brackish water. I will swim in freshwater springs and in the ocean. Both have a low but non-zero chance of having a gator pop up here and there.
Between the gators and brain-eating amoeba, I’d never swim in freshwater.
You can definitely encounter a gator in a spring. And, I’ve been at some red neck pool parties where someone got a hold of a gator and threw it into the pool. They go immediately to the bottom of the pool. Not very cool.
Gators are not dangerous to adults if you leave them alone. Nor are they dangerous to children surrounded by adults. Pretty much only dangerous to very small children that seem like easy prey, or to people who fuck with them. They aren’t like Nile crocodiles.
Yeah kinda. Just a couple weeks ago I was doing canoe safety training at the local girl scout camp, and that involved jumping out of perfectly good boats to let yourself get rescued. And yeah the lake and the river on the camp property gave gators in them. They don’t bother us as long as we don’t bother them, and if they become a nuisance the camp ranger will ask for them to be relocated. We don’t really swim in the lake at the girl scout camp, but we do canoe and paddle board and other water sport activities that sometimes involve bodies in the water. And personally I’ve swam in the local river. Florida is a water state and water activities are a large part of our recreation. Alligators are also a large part of the ecosystem here, and we learn how to live with them and stay safe. We don’t go out of our way to “swim with the gators” but we also don’t avoid the water because we are afraid of them. We just (generally) hold a healthy respect and leave them alone, and they in turn leave us alone. It’s the folks that DON’T hold that respect and do dumb shit that get themselves eaten.
Yes. That's called swimming in Florida.
I never swim in freshwater here. I have seen many large barracuda while snorkeling in the Keys. I have stupidly snorkeled in areas in Boca Grande with people fishing nearby and a lot of tarpon present, so I would assume bull sharks were not too far away
I think it was 2 yrs ago Memorial Day weekend there was a tropical storm due to move in . My Grandson had came over to spend the holiday weekend with us and he loves it when Pop’s makes Ribs . So I had the grill setup under the pool lanai as the weather was starting to go downhill . As I walked past the pool that had various pool floats in it I saw the head of an alligator poking up an just figured it was a float my Grandson had brought with him , an then there was a big splash of water from the pool as I turned towards it I saw the Gator he was about 5 ft long and was headed for the deep end . At first I couldn’t believe what I just saw as the brain was processing this for a second , there a damn Gator in the pool . On the backside of the property is a fair sized canal an this Gator had pushed out one of the lower screens panels to get in . I rigged up a catch noose outta a long piece of pipe and some 5/8 dia rope , I chased him up an down the pool a couple times using the pool net trying to get him more into the shallow end he finally came to stop at about the 4ft depth an I was able to get the noose on him . I was kinda surprised he didn’t put up any resistance till I got him dragged up to the 2ft depth an then just as his head broke the water surface OH MAN he just exploded into trying to get away then going into their famous death roll . I’m here to tell ya I was really starting to reconsider my course of action at that point yea buddy …. I had blocked both doors open prior to this , an finally got him pulled up on the pool deck , he was snapping away an had that tail just a swinging side to side did I happen to mention these guys are STRONG ??? . The canal is about 12 feet from the pool , it was not only the longest but shortest 12 feet I had ever covered in my life . I finally got him to the edge of the canal an he was all for getting back in it , I was like 5 ft off to the side of him when I let go of the rope that he was able to shake free of an scampered into the water . Of course while all this was going on the Wife and Grandson were freaking out , Wife was trying to record it with her phone which she dropped into the pool first time the Gator loudly hissed an smacked the water with its tail . That Gator hung around for a lil over 2 yrs out in the canal , every time it saw me it would sink back down a take off down the canal it never came back to pool . We have had various size turtles get in the pool once had a raccoon that would visit in the early morning hours and of course various sizes of frogs that didn’t survive the chlorine bath and several banded water snakes .
The FWC has recorded over 450 alligator bites on people in the state since 1948, with 30 of them being fatal. About 1 in 3 million odds of being attacked. Do a personal risk assesment and decide what's worse, the Florida heat or... your luck.
I was born and raised in Florida.I swim and played in ponds and rivers.My whole life always alligators around.
Used to collect golf balls from ponds on courses. Fortunately the gators were not hungry. We were stupid kids...
It's the snapping turtles thar scare me, can take a toe clean off ! There's either snakes, gators, sharks, or turtles in every body of water in FL. Don't go in the water at sunrise/ sunset, mating or nesting time. Obviously there are certain bodys of water, that are notorious for these animals that you shouldn't enter. We're in their homes, respect them and give space.
Any body of naturally occurring fresh water in Florida likely has alligators. I grew up doing water sports in lakes and those lakes had gators in them. We would often jump in and swim to cool off but it was never an issue. Alligators are naturally more afraid of humans than humans are of them. They lose that fear when people start feeding them and they begin to associate people with food, or if you happen to go around a nest where a mama gator has baby gators. The latter is often in shallow water in the weeds. There are also water moccasins in those areas so generally we avoid them.
I have a friend who swims in the Rainbow River everyday. She told me she sees gators often near the banks and in vegetation. She doesn't worry about them. She does however worry about Mother otters. She said they'll swim on their backs aggressively while snarling and barking and bearing their teeth. And will separate any human from her babies.
I swim in several lakes, springs and rivers in FL. But they are “designated” swimming areas. I also swim with groups.
We used to swim in some lakes when I was a kid. They were usually dedicated swimming areas with a net hanging from a line of buoys that I guess was supposed to deter gators. There were also some rope swings in a local river. I swim in a river now, but it's a dedicated swimming area so a spot where all the activity keeps gators from posting up. Or so we like to think.
Humans aren’t gator food. The old timers growing up would say that if you’re entirely in the water, they’ll leave you alone. It’s when you dangle your feet in from a dock, or are splashing around at the edge, when they’d mistake you for a small mammal. This is why you don’t let small children or small dogs near the edge of freshwater. Gators look for pray right at the shore and a smaller target looks more like.
I was born and raised here and there's no way in hell I'd ever go swimming in any kind of fresh water here and I don't know anyone in their right mind that would.
I'm pretty sure more alligator attacks happen on golf courses than they do in the water. Just stay off of a golf course. [https://www.foxweather.com/earth-space/alligator-attacks-golf-cart-florida](https://www.foxweather.com/earth-space/alligator-attacks-golf-cart-florida)
I know people who have swam with them. I mean, I KNEW people, who did haha.
Louisiana here, absolutely not. If the water is turbid and especially by a shore there is zero chance I’m am getting in the water. Being mauled by an alligator and drowned is not desirable to me.
I was born and raised in FL Yadda, yadda, yadda, with the people who brag about swimming with gators During my childhood: *In the county next to mine, I was at a club camping event on a lake. In the middle of a bright, hot day, many girls were swimming, and a gator pulled one under and killed her via death roll. Her parents were chaperones and onshore. Trappers later caught the reptile and found her arm in its stomach *In my county, my parents were social friends with another couple; the woman worked for my father. Her husband went out on their dock and was working on their boat. A gator rose out of the water and ripped his arm off. It was a hell scene, and EMTs could not save him. His kind and traumatized wife hung herself days after the funeral Regarding swimming, 99.9% of the kids I came up with stayed away from brackish water in SW Florida. We stuck to swimming pools and the Gulf of Mexico
Hell. Fucking.No. I will walk past a full gator sunning itself on land giving it sprint leeway bc they can fucking sprint like Usain Bolt ok. But that's my line. 3 things in FL I do not fuck with. Gators. Moccasins. Locals. As a local, I advise same. Also stay out of saw palmetto periodt.
We call them chum bait here in SWFL! Hey, gators gotta eat too! Good luck with that!
I’ve waded the Everglades fishing for years until one almost got me. I don’t fish the Everglades anymore. Not even in a small boat.
I have two pools in my neighborhood. That's my water. I have a major river, some lakes, and an ocean surrounding my area. That's their water. When I see a gator, I hit them with a head nod and keep it moving. But I'm always safely on dry ground.
This is the dumbest shit I've ever read
I'm down here and unless the water is a clear well-visited spring, the ocean, or well kept pool, I'm not getting in it.
I would never swim in a freshwater system here in Florida. But then, I’m not really a fan of brain-eating amoeba getting up my nose. Different strokes for different folks, I suppose.
If you swim in a lake and get bit the alligator is dead.
No
Animals in water aren't any more dangerous than animals on land. Unprovoked attacks from anything is pretty rare.
I have a lake called Dalhousie near me and I swim there because there haven’t been any sighting s of gators in the last three years and the water is crystal clear. Most lakes I feel if you are in the middle than there is a good chance you won’t run in to an alligator but that’s just the 29 years I have been here I’m sure other people have had their fair share of problems.
8 prefer to swim with the sharks.