LAKE MARY, FL — Move over, bears and deer—there’s a new wildlife visitor in town, and it’s got serious manners.
Nathalie Gaines was just minding her business at home when she heard a knock knock at the door. No big deal, right? Wrong. Because when she checked her doorbell cam, she didn’t see a lost Amazon driver or a Girl Scout selling cookies. Nope.
She saw an 8-foot alligator standing on its hind legs like it was about to ask for a cup of sugar.
That’s right. This prehistoric party crasher wasn’t just lurking in the bushes—it was knocking. Gaines, who’s used to seeing bears and deer around her Lake Mary home, was understandably shook.
“I heard a knock at the door and then nothing else,” she told FOX 35. “I waited a while and then I hear it again. There was a full-blown alligator sitting at our front door.”
The Gator’s Doorstep Shenanigans
The footage shows the gator standing up (because apparently, Florida gators have evolved) and giving the door a solid thump with its snout. Then, like a rejected door-to-door salesman, it just… chilled there.
“It was big,” Gaines said, estimating the scaly visitor at seven to eight feet. “We always see wildlife, but not this up close, knocking on the door.”
Eventually, the gator got bored (or realized no one was home to invite it in for swamp snacks) and waddled off, presumably to go knock on someone else’s door.
Florida: Where Even the Wildlife Has Audacity
Gaines, being a true Floridian, initially called a trapper—but then realized the gator wasn’t actually causing trouble. It was just being polite.
This isn’t even the weirdest gator encounter this month. Another Florida woman recently wrestled an alligator to save her dog. But at least that gator didn’t knock first.
Moral of the story? In Florida, always check your doorbell cam before answering. Because you never know if it’s a neighbor, a delivery guy, or a dinosaur with impeccable manners.