Gator makes night visit to door of area home

An alligator made a late-night visit to the front door of an Orlandoarea home, and it was all caught on video.

Debbie Hunt, who lives in the Waterford Lakes development in east Orlando, said was she and her husband were awakened in the middle of night when she received an alert from her Ring doorbell camera that there was motion outside her home.

“I thought maybe someone was messing with our cars,” she said.

Her husband looked outside and didn’t see anything … until he looked down and saw the young alligator at their front door.

Video from the Ring doorbell showed the alligator, around 3 feet in length, leisurely walking up to Hunt’s front door, then meandering into a nearby garden area.

Hunt said she believes the gator may have come from a lake across the street or a pond behind her house.

According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, we are still in alligator mating season – which runs from April through June. But this little fella isn’t quite ready to be out courting.

“Nearly all alligators become sexually mature by the time they reach approximately 7 feet in length although females can reach maturity at 6 feet,” according to the FWC’s website. “A female may require 10-15 years and a male 8-12 years to reach these lengths.”

Though Waterford Lakes is full of lakes and ponds, alligator sightings are not especially common.