When You're Up to Your Ass in Alligators

Better watch out for the kids. WUSA9,  Beltsville apartment warns of reptile on the loose, possibly an alligator "Please be mindful of your kids playing outside," the apartment complex said in an email to residents.

An apartment complex in Maryland is warning those who live there of a reptile on the loose. Officials say the loose creature may be an alligator.

In a letter to residents on Saturday, Clarissa Johnson with The Lighthouse at Twin Lakes apartment complex in Beltsville said animal control and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources have been contacted to try to trap the animal.

"Please be careful while entering and exiting your home. Please be mindful of your kids playing outside and while walking your pet(s)," Johnson wrote in the letter.

 

Alligators are not native to Maryland. According to the Smithsonian National Zoo, the American alligator is found in the United States from North Carolina to the Rio Grande in Texas. Alligators are usually found in freshwater, slow-moving rivers. They also live in swamps, marshes and lakes.

Male alligators are larger than female alligators. The average adult size for a female is 8.2 feet (2.6 meters), and the average size for a male is 11.2 feet (3.4 meters). Exceptionally large males can reach a weight of nearly half a ton or 1,000 pounds, the zoo said on its website.

While the apartment complex could not confirm whether the loose animal was in fact an alligator, they did say the animal has not yet been caught.

At least twice in recent years, gators have been caught living wild in the waters of Southern Maryland. Although we aren't really sure of their origin, I think we're fairly comfortable saying they likely didn't migrate up from the Merchants Millpond State Park, North Carolina, their northernmost known natural outpost, although it's not really out of the question. From what I've seen of Beltsville, it does not look a lot like good Alligator habitat. If one is really lose there, it was likely released from captivity, and if it's relatively large, has been probably getting by on a diet of rats, squirrels, and the occasional dog or cat. Taking a kid would not be out of the question.

The Wombat has a double-stuffed Rule 5 Sunday: Vengeance Bikinis ready for consumption.