Peeping gator creeps up on Ocoee boy, caught in mom's cellphone video

'I don't know how long he was sitting there, watching,' mom says

OCOEE, Fla. – An Ocoee mother was videotaping her 6-year-old son in the family’s yard when she noticed an unexpected visitor: an alligator near the side of her house.

Check out the video she posted to her Facebook page.

On Wednesday, Nicole Mojica said that now, she doesn’t feel comfortable letting her kids outside to play in their backyard, knowing that an alligator was inches from her patio door.

"I don't know how long he was sitting there, watching," Mojica said.

It was about noon Monday when the gator showed up. At the time, the children were enjoying the Slip ‘N Slide.

"At first, I did not see the gator, ​but then I turned around and I saw it," said Mojica’s son, 6-year-old Timmy.

"I froze,” Nicole Mojica said. “I told my kids, ‘Run! Gator! Run! Gator!’ (And) they didn't know what I was talking about.”

Mojica said her 4-year-old daughter was a few feet from the reptile, but she yanked her away, just in time.

Wildlife experts said it's that time of year -- gators are out and about.

Mojica said she's already teaching her kids how to be safe near the water.

"(We should) look both ways when we come out there and also check the water," Timmy said.

"You just have to be vigilant,” Nicole Mojica said. “Don't send your kids in the backyard without going outside first.”

As of Wednesday night, Mojica's video of the uninvited visitor had been viewed on Facebook nearly 900 times.

"Can you spot the real gator?" Mojica asked in her post. "He sees us for sure!! Look closely….OMG!!! It ran down my slip and slide!"

Mojica was referencing the fact that coincidentally, Timmy was playing on the Slip 'N Slide with an inflatable alligator. So perhaps the gator thought he was coming to hang with a friend?

Mojica said in another post that the gator scurried away into a nearby pond.


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