NEAR FORT MYERS, Fla. (WSVN) — A huge, scaly sight left residents of a neighborhood near Fort Myers stunned.

Fridays in florida are for the gators, especially now that mating season has arrived.

Area resident Magda Avalos said she saw a large alligator on her way from the school car line.

“I don’t have the best vision — I have astigmatism — so I saw something on the road, and it’s trash day, so I thought it was probably just trash,” she said. “But no, I started seeing it walking; it was a gator.”

“Look at what came out this morning,” Avalos is heard saying in cellphone video of the reptile.

It wasn’t just on any road. Avalos said the scaly scoundrel was crossing her neighborhood road.

“Only in Florida,” Avalos is heard saying in the cellphone video.

“It’s scary, because a lot of people have their dogs, and they walk them,” she said.

As communities raise concerns that more gators will pop up even more during mating season, naturalist Ranger Bob gave a few pointers about what people should do if they see an alligator.

“The first thing you should do if you see an alligator is just give it space,” he said. “These animals are big, they are carnivores, but they’re really only going to be a danger to you if you are in their space.”

Avalos said cellphone video of the fearsome critter does not convey its sheer size.

“The video doesn’t do it justice. That thing was huge. The face alone was like this big. I mean, it was, it was, to me it was big,” she said.

But what about those people who find themselves in the gator’s space and are not protected by something like, say, a truck?

“I’ve heard go zigzag, I’ve heard climb up a tree, and it’s really whatever situation you’re in,” said Ranger Bob. “The gators, they can be super strong, super fast for a short burst of speed, usually in a straight line.”

But Ranger Bob said residents shouldn’t panic, even during this period.

“If you don’t show that you have nothing to offer to the gator, they’re not going to bother you,” he said. “Yes, they’re going to walk through your areas from time to time, because we took theirs.”

Ranger Bob also advises to only call authorities when a gator becomes a nuisance or seems too comfortable around people.

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