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Baby alligators popping up in Nocatee swamp

If you go to the swamp by the Twenty Miles neighborhood in Nocatee at the right time of day, you might see an alligator and with her babies.

Lots of people are stopping on the side of the road in Nocatee at a small swamp in the Twenty Miles neighborhood. Depending on the time of day, you might see an alligator with her babies.

"There's 13 to 14 baby gators that look like tiny baby snakes all hanging out by its mama," said resident Colleen Roscha.

Roscha says these babies have been show stoppers.

"It's been just a huge attraction, people are going up on their golf carts and riding their bikes and just checking them out," Roscha said.

"When I drive by after work, I always see the kids and golf carts and such stopped here," said Charles Dempsy, another resident.

The residents say mama gator is always out to soak up the attention, but the babies are a bit shy.

"I haven’t seen the babies, every time I come they’re not here," Roscha said.

According to Chad Weber with Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, this is pretty normal.

"In the state of Florida, any body of water has the potential to have a gator in it," Weber said.

Weber says the small gators also don’t pose any threat to people.

"Small alligators mainly feed on insects and fish, smaller amphibians like frogs, things like that," Weber said.

Weber said it’s just very important no one feeds them.

"When alligators are fed, they lose their natural instinct to find food on their own and start associating humans with food," Weber said. "It can create a potentially dangerous situation."

For now, no one in the neighborhood seems to be too concerned.

"As long as the kids stay up here, and the dogs stay up here, it's probably going to be ok," Dempsy said.

"It's pretty sweet," Roscha said. "This is like nature in our hometown. It's perfect."

Weber says the FWC would not remove these or any alligators until they get to be at least four feet long. Until then, they are typically too small to do any harm to humans and most animals.

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