Man greeted by hissing alligator in storm drain

APOPKA, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) - Apopka, Florida resident Louis Camacho recently got quite a surprise when he walked outside to get his mail.  Just a few steps away, he discovered an approximately 8-foot alligator inside a storm drain.

"I went out to retrieve my mail and felt some vibrations on my feet -- me thinking it was an earthquake," explained Camacho,  "But I’m like, in Florida? No.  I felt it again and heard some sounds, so I went a head and looked into the sewer, and low-and-behold, I see an alligator!  It was just hanging there and hissing at me sort of like a growl.  It was warning me! I was shocked! I couldn’t believe it! I said it to myself, now I’ve seen everything."

And besides the gator, Louis says he recently ran into another creature, right on the other side of this fence. He showed us video he recorded of big bear, just a few days ago.

"He was somewhere in the 300-pound range."

While both were pretty frightening, he said he was most startled by the alligator.

"He seemed more excitable than the bear!"

Camacho said that all sorts of animals hang by this retention pond in back of his house, including the alligator.

"The storm drain leads to the retention pond by my house, and he crawls in and out."

We asked if he had a name for the alligator, to which he replied, "Ally. Ally, as in alligator."  

When asked if he thought the alligator was a "him" or a "her," Camacho told us, "I’m not sure and I’m not going to find out."