TAMPA, FL \u2014 Just over a week into Florida\u2019s gator mating season, two of the large reptiles recently gave people a scare in the Tampa area. <\/p>\n
Homeowners reported what they thought was a human intruder on March 29, but it \u201cturned out to be a Florida-style uninvited guest,\u201d Tampa police wrote in a social media post. <\/p>\n
Officers responded to the home just after 3 a.m. and found the gator \u201chad let itself in for a solo swim\u201d in the pool. <\/p>\n
With the assistance of a nuisance alligator trapper, the gator was safely removed. (Watch a video of the gator being wrangled from the pool below.)<\/p>\n
Then, on Tuesday morning, a gator was spotted near the Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections office in Tampa. <\/p>\n
Deputies responded to reports of the gator \u201cjust chillin\u2019, layin\u2019 in the grass\u201d outside the office, the Hillsborough County Sheriff\u2019s Office wrote in a social media post, adding, \u201cThe soggy weather must have brought out the wildlife.\u201d<\/p>\n
A licensed trapper responded and safely removed the gator. <\/p>\n
Alligator mating season begins in early April, first with courtship, followed by mating in May and June, the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission said. <\/p>\n
By late June or early July, female gators build a mound nest of soil, vegetation or debris, and deposit an average of 32 to 46 eggs in it. <\/p>\n
Incubation takes 63 to 68 days, and hatching takes place from mid-August into early September. <\/p>\n
Watch a police bodyworn camera video of the gator wrangled from the Tampa pool: <\/p>\n
See Also:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA, FL \u2014 Just over a week into Florida\u2019s gator mating season, two of the large reptiles recently…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":225040,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,137,136],"class_list":["post-225039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225039"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225039\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/225040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}