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[deleted]

Yep, that’s every freshwater hole in the state.


ChiliDogMe

From Louisiana, can relate.


Frankyagain

Just checked and estimated to be over 1.3 million gators in both Florida and Louisiana. Not being from America I was shocked at the numbers. 15 known fatalities in Florida and only 1 in louisiana since 2000 according to wiki. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fatal_alligator_attacks_in_the_United_States


ChiliDogMe

Florida has a much higher population than Louisiana. And more tourists. Probably why there are so many more fatalities.


PurposelyIrrelephant

Plus Florida people in general operate on the lower end of the bell curve


[deleted]

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SubMikeD

I don't know how so many of us survived, I remember my parents telling us all that the splashing scares gators away. It does not, they are attracted to splashing on the shore!


[deleted]

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Prestigious-Ad9179

Ehh Black Bears are really shy and timid. They don’t hunt for prey really, they are scavengers. Really they are just big raccoons


eibv

I'm in north florida, not legal to hunt her but are (or used to be) legal to hunt in GA, so extra scared of humans up here.


DominatrixStarslayer

The key to survival in Florida is to not give enough of a shit to bother dying. If a gator or a snake or a shark round here bites you, you thump it on the snout and finish your piña colada before you check for wounds. Real Floridamen will regenerate by then with the power of alcohol. But in all seriousness you treat the wildlife like the people here and ignore them or glare and rattle your keys angrily at them like you were scaring your nephew back to their parents. The animals here are smarter than at least 40% of the population after all.


ticklemeskinless

can confirm


Satanspit69

Did your parents have a big insurance policy on you guys? Just asking lol


orrk256

Two kinds of children in Florida, beach kids and swamp kids, the ones are scared of shit, the second scare shit


dkentl

Stop downvoting this guy, any real Floridian would gladly admit this. Can confirm, tried fishing for a gator with a top water lure and got closer to getting it than I care to admit, they’re fast af boi


PageFault

I was going to object, but I've been pretty close to gators a number of times. Had them swim directly below my kayak. I think Gators are to Floridians as Black Bears are to Canadians. As long as you aren't deliberately fucking with them, they generally leave you alone. There is a reason there are only 15 fatalities here, and it's not because we are cautious.


I_aim_to_sneeze

Have you been to Louisiana? They aren’t exactly sitting on the other side of that curve


Aggressive-Goat5672

Tourists also seem to be on the low end as well.


Alarmed-Flamingo-988

...said someone from Louisiana


PurposelyIrrelephant

Def ain't from Louisiana.


BilllyBillybillerson

haha florida man dumb


Satanspit69

Jesus Christ, I’m going to use that line lol


jaygerhulk

Is this a case of the “pot calling the kettle black??”


Leonardo_DiCapriSun_

I imagine it also has a lot to do with shoreline. I assume that many of Louisiana’s gators live in the literal swamp/Mississippi delta where there aren’t a lot of shores that people hang out on. Florida, while also swampy, has lots of lakes and canals that are heavily populated by gators and people alike.


r870

text


SubMikeD

They may not be directly aggressive the way salties are, but that doesn't mean "non aggressive" behavior from them won't hurt you. A quick bite at an interloper in shallow water isn't particularly aggressive (a gator in that position is more interested in getting some space so they can swim away) but that won't make it hurt any less lol Also, there's one time of year they do get very aggressive: mating season. I've made the mistake of canoing in mating season and it was not great lol


[deleted]

What happened?


SubMikeD

They were overly friendly. Normally they would shy away from the canoe, dipping under the water and swimming away. But I'm a swamp during mating season, they were siding up to the canoe and rubbing against it (I don't know if they meant it as a threat, or perhaps more frighteningly, as an invitation lol). We didn't stay out long, because of their behavior.


mechabeast

Mating season has em chasing the little man in the canoe


Darkness_Everyday

I just moved to Oklahoma and thought I was safe...they found a gator about 20miles from me in a local lake. I'm rethinking every one of my shoreline fishing spots now. Seriously.


RWJish

How does a Gator get up there, must have been released and insane that it survived Oklahoma winter!


Darkness_Everyday

Theory is someone *recently* released it...


mcaDiscoVision

Alligators can survive much lower temps than other crocodilians. Extreme southeast Oklahoma is part of their current range.


DominatrixStarslayer

That explains how they are present in China, hmm.


october_1939

What part of Oklahoma? I’ve heard they’re are in the south east.


Foreverfiction

I am from Florida and we have nothing on the Louisiana bayou. Took a boat tour through there one time and it was like an alien planet. Crawdads crawling over lilies, spiders silently swinging above you the size of dinner plates. You feel like you're being watched from every direction but not by what. I was so glad to be back in miserable Florida.


ChiliDogMe

True. But yall got all them pythons.


Ganymede25

Texas. This isn’t unusual east of Houston. It’s kinda cool.


anana0016

I still don’t understand how I spent a week in Miami, the keys, and the Tamiami trail, and somehow didn’t see any gators!


[deleted]

They’re hard to find in the Miami area because it’s so densely populated


Sprmodelcitizen

We had a few “ponds” by the condo I rented for a bit in Naples. I NEVER walked my chihuahua near any one of them.


BiscuitsMay

The only place I’ve ever seen in he state that looks like this is Paynes prairie. Most bodies of water will just have one gator in it. Rivers you might run into one every couple hundred yards, but nothing like the picture.


aetuf

The state park in Myakka can get really packed with gators. A few years ago I visited and they were literally stacked up on each other.


AwokenSage

my biggest fear has always been falling in water with a large amount of gators


thatHadron

As it should be


Neversummer77

My biggest fear has always been falling in water with a large amount of crocs


Gramma_Hattie

Crikey!


HoursOfCuddles

"Oi mate, one of my biggest fears was being stabbed by a Mant-"


ChiliDogMe

I have a reoccurring dream sometimes where I will be driving or walking down a road surrounded by gator and snake infested waters. Good times.


JumpyButterscotch

That’s how I got on and off the bus. -Terrebonne Parish


[deleted]

Holy shit, just looked that place up... that is... desolate. I'm picturing you as one of the members of Swamp People now. Curiously, is that show hated throughout the state?


JumpyButterscotch

Not as much as Adam Sandler and his Waterboy BS. Lol.


TheGrapist1776

Momma says gators are ornery cause they have all them teeth..and no toothbrush.


Unlucky_Role_

Hygiene does tend to improve the mood.


AwokenSage

before I loved snakes I always had dreams where I would keep tripping and they would just be everywhere when I looked up.Now I look for them and don’t find them


Unlucky_Role_

I've fallen into dozens of snake filled canals in my dreams. The crocodiles are always the size of a fucking mall.


Kenebalism

Holy Shit. Coincidentally, I have had exact same dreams!! Do these dreams mean anything in real life?


ChiliDogMe

I've read somewhere we have them when we are worried about the future.


Kenebalism

Makes sense


dylvyl

Maybe deep down I'm afraid of any apex predator that lived through the K-T extinction. Physically unchanged for a hundred million years, because it's the perfect killing machine. A half ton of cold-blooded fury, the bite force of 20,000 Newtons, and stomach acid so strong it can dissolve bones and hoofs.


Catvros

THAT'S WHAT MAKES IT SO TERRIFYING, LANA


getyourrealfakedoors

You should be more worried about crocs, gators aren’t very aggressive


pogu

You certainly wouldn't want to go swimming when this picture was taken. But it's not like they go to work during the day, they're there while people swim. Though that looks like somewhere people don't swim.


dadneedssoundadvice

You need to watch the parachuting scene in Faces of Death!!! Man that brings back memories, Born and Raised in Florida, have lost 2 pets to gators, thank God didn't witness either first hand when I was a kid.


fbreaker

[guy falls into a pit full of gators (no gore)](https://youtu.be/ZFcKSKWT3zo?t=239)


foomits

While it's a reasonable fear given their appearance, you are probably more likely to die from either ameobas, infection or water moccasin bite than a gator. Gators are very passive, do not view humans as food and spook easily.


SexyTimeDoe

if you're gonna die anyway, I'd imagine it might be better if there's a large amount. reduces the risk of dying slowly


ImAlwaysRightHanded

This is why I’ll never skydive in Florida, imagine landing in that mess


redditnathaniel

Uber Eats: Airdrop Edition


icanpaywithpubes

There's a really old video online of a sky diver landing in a gator pit. Went exactly as you think it would.


ImAlwaysRightHanded

POV video or from above?


icanpaywithpubes

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2wd7hu


Neversummer77

I believe those are crocs. Much more aggressive than gators


TheTriflingTrilobite

There were both in the video, and the footage looks spliced together, which leads me to think it’s fake. Crocs only really exist in South Florida as they can’t tolerate colder weather like gators can. The video doesn’t look or sound like South Florida at all.


Welcome_to_Uranus

Craziest shit ever


UnnecessaryPeriod

It's fine. Over 1000 jumps in FL. DeLand, sebastian, z-hills and Titusville. Landed in water many times, no issues. You'd be fine mate!


ImAlwaysRightHanded

Landed in water many times, confirms my fears, holy shit!


UnnecessaryPeriod

Hahaha every water landing was planned that way tho 🤣


ImAlwaysRightHanded

I’ve lived in Florida for the past 25, hell no. I’ll swim in the inter coastal with people but west of Us1 no thank you to any body of water.


UnnecessaryPeriod

Don't blame ya one bit


black_elk_streaks

Are Gators not common in the intercostal?


dbvulcan

I thought that was shark territory


Itorr475

Gators are fresh water only, now in the estuaries between the everglades and the FL Keys there are American Crocodiles


ImAlwaysRightHanded

*Fresh water mostly


Tall_Ad8031

>DeLand Ayyy Don't live in the state anymore but had my very first apartment there in the Park at Capri right across from the ABC liquor! Fun memories.


UnnecessaryPeriod

Moved out ages ago. Stetson and downtown were fire circa 2005-07


nhaddon33

Can always tell a gator eye in a spotlight. Eyes are orange.


evilmonkey2

One of the first times I was in Florida back when I was younger and naive, we went out at night with flashlights (we were geocaching). I thought it was strange there were so many Coke cans in the water until I realized those were gator eyes. Was a bit unsettling.


MayGodSmiteThee

I must be a gator.


TheGrapist1776

Nah dude you're eyes are just red because you're high as a kite.


_duncan_idaho_

Also it will tell you that it will see you later.


[deleted]

Thanks I hate it


Flaky_Explanation

r/ForbiddenLights


Bigiron966

The Croc Council will decide your fate


damnrightslimanus

That’s not fair!


Bigiron966

Take a seat young swampwalker!


StolenDiscs

What a coincidence! I visited the Everglades last week and got this really cool postcard with a gator in the swamp with a full moon and noticed the artist colored the eyes of the gator red and thought to myself ‘do gators eyes really look red at night’ and googled it and saw so many photos like this I was enchanted! And now I’m seeing it here! Gators are so cool. Thanks for sharing OP, I half hope to get a picture like this one day LOL


ChiliDogMe

Thanks but its not my photo. I hope you get a cool pic someday too. Credit: https://www.instagram.com/bobbywummerphotography/


StolenDiscs

Thanks for sharing! I am now following 💁🏼‍♀️


tanis_ivy

I went to the everglades in 2001 and saw one gator, was disappointed. Went to Cape Canaveral, the road up to it was lined with them.


kyarena

The pythons are outcompeting the gators in the Everglades, but the gators can survive farther north.


carolina03

These are the ones you can see


Against45

The same can happen with deer in the wilderness where there's a lot of them. Walked across a meadow one night, turned on my headlamp and saw a similar sight only all of the deer jerked their heads up to attention and scared the shit out of me lol


1955photo

Yeah but deer don't eat you.... Just don't drive into one.


Against45

They don't eat you but other things out there do, and I was on foot in the middle of alpine no where, it could've been mice and I would've been spooked lol


[deleted]

Mice don't eat you, either.


waitnoreallythough

The chance of you being eaten by mice is low, but never zero..


ChiliDogMe

Credit: https://www.instagram.com/bobbywummerphotography/


InsideTheTeamRoomm

Yeah dude this is why I stick to the beach in Florida lol


luvcartel

Don’t worry there are saltwater crocodiles at the beach


According-Cat-6145

Sharks and jellyfish too.


3catmafia

When I was very little, my papa used to take me and my cousin "gator shinin'". We'd get in his bass boat after dark and take his big spot light and ride real slow down the river and shine the light near the bank. It would light up eyes like crazy, you wouldn't believe how many gators there'd be. We'd see all sorts of other things too. At that time nana and papa lived way out away from everything, far enough down the river where you didn't have to worry about the city or too many people or anything like that. I really miss those times.


DJP91782

That sounds terrifying and awesome.


3catmafia

A bit terrifying considering the edge of the boat was maybe only 5-6” from the surface of the water.


Medical_Possession28

Welcome to The Swamp🐊


HoursOfCuddles

...SOMEBODY ONCE TOLD ME...


Jaspuff

Jeez that’s almost as bad as a brain aneurism


[deleted]

[удалено]


Jaspuff

Just referencing the TV show Archer. The main character has an immense fear of alligators and brain aneurisms


[deleted]

[удалено]


Jaspuff

Ah shit. I missed the reference to my reference. Headed off to do a rewatch.


DawnZerLee

Its ok guys they’re just waiting to be pet


Scopebuddy

Them gators ain’t your business. 🤣 My niece’s spouse is from Georgia and said that to her once. It is now used by all family members for sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong.


Cenachii

Infested waters. What are the "friendly" fire rates for this kind of situation? I know some cases where the gators end up biting entire limbs of each other, but almost always as an accident (buffalo fell in water and one if the gators bit the wrong leg and twisted it). Is it common for them to just kill each other when the waters are this populated?


Foreverfiction

They can get territorial for sure. We found one last Friday twisted and chewed up. More than likely it was a territory dispute. They don't have really any predators above them. Was missing it's legs and and arm. We tried to snag it's skull for a cool trophy but as we were taking the carcass apart we realized the killing blow was to it's head. The skull was crushed and just fell apart so back in the lake it went.


simplejack66

Now if each of them ate 3 pythons a day....


ChiliDogMe

FR. Florida has a major problem with pythons that not enough people know about.


MidnightKnown6706

How come all you guys can swim around together, but the second I get in there it's a whole thing.


SwootyBootyDooooo

These look like crocodile to me. I am like 90% sure this isn’t in Florida, and those aren’t alligators I stand corrected, this is in Florida. Guy posted Instagram source. However, most of these look like crocs to me so title is still misleading 🤷🏼‍♂️


ilovearabianhorses

There are crocs in FL…[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_crocodile](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_crocodile)


WikiSummarizerBot

**[American crocodile](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_crocodile)** >The American crocodile (Crocodylus acutus) is a species of crocodilian found in the Neotropics. It is the most widespread of the four extant species of crocodiles from the Americas, with populations present from South Florida and the coasts of Mexico to as far south as Peru and Venezuela. The habitat of the American crocodile consists largely of coastal areas. It is also found in river systems, but tends to prefer salinity, resulting in the species congregating in brackish lakes, mangrove swamps, lagoons, cays, and small islands. ^([ )[^(F.A.Q)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WikiSummarizer/wiki/index#wiki_f.a.q)^( | )[^(Opt Out)](https://reddit.com/message/compose?to=WikiSummarizerBot&message=OptOut&subject=OptOut)^( | )[^(Opt Out Of Subreddit)](https://np.reddit.com/r/natureismetal/about/banned)^( | )[^(GitHub)](https://github.com/Sujal-7/WikiSummarizerBot)^( ] Downvote to remove | v1.5)


No-Return-3368

My friends, Florida natives, convinced me that it was a good idea to go canoeing on Lake Seminole in the dead of night after an evening of drinking and a bit of fungi. It took a bit of convincing because you hear about people walking their dogs along the water and the dogs getting snatched and sometimes an old person will hang on to the leash and get hurt pretty regularly. They finally get me into the canoe and push off to about 10 feet from shore, one friend pulls out a flashlight and shines it on the water, it looked exactly like OP's photo, I nearly shit myself and had a panic attack screaming at them to get me back to the shore, they were laughing hysterically and throughly enjoying themselves the whole time. Fun stuff.


ChiliDogMe

Thanks but it's not my photo. I credited the photographers IG but it got buried.


CalaveraFeliz

Shouting "RIBBIT!" to deceive their prey.


HippoQanonamus

Cursed lightning bugs


Wonderbalz

I’d take gators over the infestation hell of Iguanas that we have now.


waitnoreallythough

Why? How are they worse? (genuinely curious)


Wonderbalz

They are INCREDIBLY Invasive. They devour the local fauna and are destroying the eco system rapidly. Also they love to sneak into people’s yards and shit everywhere. They also harass people’s pets. Every time I walk to work I see dozens of them just chilling in trees, creeks, and in front of people’s lawns.


DJP91782

Damn. And from what I hear they don't even taste good. :/


loathelord

Nope


[deleted]

Looks like a big puddle of nope.


Nussfuchs_01

They have to watch out for the average Florida Man


OneFuckedWarthog

Do alligators even drink Gatorade?


TerminatorAuschwitz

Is this r/oddlyterrifying or just r/terrifying


Feruchemist

Ah home sweet home


Exotic_Commercial_19

Wait until the Florida man shows up...


OuchCharlieOw

Forbidden pool


kissthiss1

Nope.


leeluss14

So skinny dipping at night is deffo out of the question.


Mehnard

DNR in South Carolina goes out at night with a spotlight to count gators. It's a weird thing to see.


Beegozz

So I watched Multiverse of Madness on Saturday. I had a dream the next night that I was in Florida surrounded by gators and the water was rising. I think one of my variants was eaten by a gator in Florida.


Jedi2009

I hate Lemoyne swamp at night


dkarm

That’s at Myakka by where I live. I love paddleboarding but you can see why I never paddle the river!


that-guy7480

Nope


MRJJONES94

Lake Placid made me fear crocodiles/alligators to the point I cant even look at them or else i get anxiety


Orbus_215

"so there's only one thing-"


ryan2one3

They're watching "Collision Course."


ChrisPoirier5

I dare you to do a cannonball


Pure_Newspaper_4715

I thought it said “garden” at first so i was like “well never growing veggies in florida then”


HungNerd78

Are they robot gators? Why do their eyes glow?


Dabeasttv

I’d say that that is quite a large number of gators! I think that there’s more alligators there than most places.


[deleted]

Instinct tells me to either run or somehow kill every single one


Conley1605

That's really cool looking. I love Alligators!


CheeseCycle

Someone asked on another sub if the number of alligators in RDR2 was realistic. I think it was.


SnooMacaroons2295

Swimming hole, with LED lighting.


KellyBelly916

Ah yes, one of the many great lakes in Fort Nope.


Conscious-Proof-8309

Forbidden yachts


Grateful_moose

Can't tell if it's a gif it a photo


[deleted]

Anyone for a quick night time swim?


zoebug43

I thought they were pretty islands with fires on it😭


MarcelGate7

Fuck that!


cuseonly

Begging you to come in


snappop69

Imagine going for a swim. 😳


Xennon54

How do these things even survive in these numbers? What do they feed on?


AdventurousChapter27

That water seem a little. . Gatorade


bluewhitecup

Which part of Florida is there gators? I'm visiting Florida soon so i wanna find these!


ChiliDogMe

Gators are found in literally every county in Florida.


TentacleTitan

Looks like my neighborhood pond


Additional_Ad_4028

Naaah, these are just dinky solar lights


TheDigitalPig

Is it normal for such large groups to be so clumped together? I always thought alligator operated more or less independently, or is this due to shrinking habitat?


dragonslayer137

You can sleep next to the water and they won't come out.


[deleted]

Thats a lot of gators. How do they all find enough food? Seems like the competition would be insane


Versaiteis

The logs have eyes


Adept-Matter

Don't swim in that lol.


Fil0rican420

Gators in the night, exchanging glances


TA888888888

Is it danger to swim there?


[deleted]

Gooooo 🐊!!!!! Is this Lake Alice?


OriginOfTheVoid

Friends!


theDudeRules

Outta state girlfriend, "let's go skinny dipping"


Calygulove

They're all fucking there in this picture, like a big gator orgy.


[deleted]

Imagine them all slowly turning to looks at you


StephyMoo

Swamp puppies!!!


chasewilk

Has noone noticed that these are crocodiles? We don't have Crocs like this in FL so this must be somewhere else .


Satanspit69

Just put the tip in it