WESLEY CHAPEL, Fla. (WSVN) — A Tampa-area family had a different kind of wake-up call when a scaly neighbor tried to barge into their home. They experienced one of several recent alligator encounters across Florida that came too close for comfort.
Courtney Beck said she and her parents woke up when they heard scratching at the front door of their Wesley Chapel home this past week.
Beck said she and her loved ones heard the door rattling, and their dogs were barking. She became worried that someone was trying to break into the house.
Beck’s worry turned into shock when she saw the toothy trespasser paying a surprising visit.
“That was just not what I was expecting. I thought maybe it was the UPS guy. It was the last thing I was thinking, was a gator,” she said.
After the Florida-style wake-up call, Beck said, she and her family watch their backs when leaving home.
But Beck’s home wasn’t the only one in the Sunshine State that had a door-to-door “scalesman” stop by over the past few weeks.
A similar sight played out in late April, this time at a home in Lake Mary, near Orlando.
“There is an alligator at the front door. Do not open it!” the homeonwer is heard saying in surveillance video.
The homeowner said the reptillian visitor was nearly 8 feet long and even tried knocking on the door, but after she called a trapper, the alligator made its way through her backyard before going back into the water.
This is why in Florida, a doorbell camera isn’t a luxury — it can be a means of survival.
The gator encounters haven’t stopped. Another front porch predator targeted a Fort Myers neighborhood.
Lee County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to the unwanted visitor chomping at the bit to enter a home, Friday morning.
The gator on the loose was eventually secured and handed over to a trapper.
As for Beck, she posted the surveillance video on TikTok, where it received more than two million views.