# If you come to Florida... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 16, 2006, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-come-to-florida/356961 "2006-05-16T11:52:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Green\_Means\_Go](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cc9497/32.png) [@Green\_Means\_Go](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Means_Go)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-come-to-florida/356961/41 "2006-05-17T15:30:15Z")
> [@Nic2004](#): > > Young alligator droppings are smaller and contain fish > bones and possibly bird feathers. Adult alligators > droppings have little bells in them and smell like pepper spray. BWAH HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! That was great! Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-come-to-florida/356961/42 "2006-05-17T15:45:42Z")
> [@featherlou](#): > > There was a rash of Canadian snowbirds shot in Florida a few years ago - in the nineties, maybe? Maybe it made more noise up in Canada. Down here it’s probably just another statistic. I do remember German/British tourist being killed down in Miami because the bad guys could track them by their rental tags. Seems they’ve since changed the license plate system. Also, I didn’t live in Florida in the nineties so it may not have been news wherever I was. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-come-to-florida/356961/43 "2006-05-17T15:46:26Z")
And today I’m reading that a south Florida woman who shot a gator which had entered her home [and tried to eat her dog](http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2006/05/17/national/a074129D26.DTL) was cited by Fish & Game for _hunting without a license_. WTF? If a giant reptile comes into my house bent on canine murder, you can bet I’m going to shoot its ass. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-come-to-florida/356961/44 "2006-05-17T16:01:48Z")
> [@teela brown](#): > > If a giant reptile comes into my house bent on canine murder, you can bet I’m going to shoot its ass. It was three feet long. Half of that is tail. If a golden retriever can’t take it 2 out of 3 falls then it gets what it deserves. Also, according to that article the citation was a warning. Probably more that she shouldn’t be using a firearm when she’s “running on so much adrenaline she just freaked out…” ---
**Author:** ![YaWanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/bbce88/32.png) [@YaWanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YaWanna)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-come-to-florida/356961/45 "2006-05-17T18:32:25Z")
> [@featherlou](#): > > Okay, here’s what I know about Florida now: alligators everywhere, including my bathtub, probably; mosquitoes and cockroaches as big as the alligators; prone to hurricanes and flooding; and full of residents that like to kill Canadians. Sorry, guys, but I don’t think you’ll be seeing me any time soon. 😃 Um, you forgot: Year-round heavy infestations of fleas, if you have a pet; Gigantic spiders the size of your hand, which you can - I-Kid-You-Not! - _hear_ running on drywall (it’s ok, though - they eat the gigantic cockroaches); Every kind of venomous snake in North America, including the Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake - far and away the largest species of rattlesnake on the continent, if not in the world; Humidity higher than the average _American Idol_ viewer’s IQ most of the year; and of course, it’s by far the Official Weirdest State in America[TM] (source: MSNBC’s _Countdown_ with Keith Olbermann). No wonder tourism drives the Florida economy! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-come-to-florida/356961/46 "2006-05-17T18:48:52Z")
**Teela Brown** I agree with the cops. Though, I would have charged her with ‘discharging a fire arm within city limits’. **LiveOnAPlane** is not exaggerating. In much of Florida, it is a simple fact that if you leave a dog in the yard, it will be eaten by a gator. Making sure your dog or cat does not get eaten by a gator is as basic as checking them for ticks, and making sure they don’t run into traffic. The gator got into the woman’s house due entirely to her negligence. After it was out of the house, she responded by firing four shots. She could have seriously hurt somebody. While the majority of gun owners in Florida would never do something this stupid, the cops want to make it very clear that they won’t put up with it. \*\*Dung Beetle[/b Canada has a much worse problem. It is filled with Canadians. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2006, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-come-to-florida/356961/47 "2006-05-18T02:26:19Z")
> [@YaWanna](#): > > Um, you forgot: > > Year-round heavy infestations of fleas, if you have a pet; > > Gigantic spiders the size of your hand, which you can - I-Kid-You-Not! - _hear_ running on drywall (it’s ok, though - they eat the gigantic cockroaches); > > Every kind of venomous snake in North America, including the Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake - far and away the largest species of rattlesnake on the continent, if not in the world; > > Humidity higher than the average _American Idol_ viewer’s IQ most of the year; > > and of course, it’s by far the Official Weirdest State in America[TM] (source: MSNBC’s _Countdown_ with Keith Olbermann). > > No wonder tourism drives the Florida economy! 😃 Well, it was a list of things _I_ know about Florida. Now I know more! (And none of them making me want to visit any sooner.) **DocCathode** - 😛 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-come-to-florida/356961.md?page=2)