Alligators are every where in Florida. After I moved here from Ohio, I was told numerous stories from the locals about the alligators lurking in every body of water. The basic story involved somebody’s dog, cat or any small pet getting caught and eaten by the local dinosaur. Occasionally some poor soul would wander into a lake at night and never be seen again. These tales were fun for the locals to tell to the terrified northerners. Each time the story was told the gator got bigger, smarter, faster and “came out of nowhere!” I was hooked, I felt like a kid again. You mean to tell me that there are real dinosaurs I can go out and find, then watch them lurk about the waters edge patiently waiting for their next meal. How cool is that! Ohio was now the most boring state in the country.
The photos in this gallery show a small pod of newly hatched alligators. I was out looking for some shots of gators in the duck weed this day. They like to lie in the duck weed and camouflage themselves. I was at the waters edge shooting some pics of Mom, when I noticed a lot of wriggling in the weed right in front of me. There were at least seven little guys swimming about. This was an exciting find, so I got a little closer. It was at this point that Mom got a little upset with me. She raised her head and started growling in my general direction. She was sitting about eight feet away and would have to dive through a small ditch to get at me. So my solution to not being eaten was to have my faithful assistant (my good lady wife, Kathy) watch Mom and warn me if she started to move my way. I was able to get several more shots before she started to move slowly thinking I might make a good snack. I backed off and was quite happy with my shots and this find.
Later that night, I realized I had taken more than photos back home with me, Chiggers! I looked like I had caught Chicken Pox from the waist down and man does that itch. Luckily I have a good solution to get rid of Chiggers. A few beers and a long soak in the hot tub seems to deal with them quite nicely.
I hope you like Alligators, because I will be posting many more photos of them on this blog.
Eric Blackmore Photography 
Didn’t they tell you when you moved to Florida that gators love the taste of bearded men? The must have some extra flava. Good call on the beer + hot tub method of killing chiggers. Clear nail polish is a good one, too. Gotta suffocate those suckers one way or another!
I always love seeing the alligators and those babies are super cute! Yes, it’s best not to get too close to mom at times like this, alligators are not normally aggressive toward people but mom with babies is another story.
Beer seems to be good for many ailments doesn’t it?! 🙂