Students at Buchanan Middle School in Tampa got an impromptu visitor in an outside hallway Thursday morning: an alligator.
Reynaldo Santiz-Delacrus was walking the hallways when he heard his friend scream.
"He saw an alligator just sitting there," said Reynaldo, who is in eighth grade. "It was a baby though."
Luckily, math teacher Tiffany Dick was nearby. She is very comfortable with reptiles, because she owns several as pets at her home.
She said that when she got a knock on her classroom door, asking for help, she was a little nervous.
"They walk down the hallway and there's this little alligator," she said. "The moment I step outside, it turns and makes a hissing sound."
Dick and another teacher were able to coax the reptile into a trash can using a meter stick.
"Even though it's a baby alligator, it could still definitely take a finger," Dick said.
Students crowded around trying to snap pictures and video as teachers shooed them away.
No one was hurt.
The gator did end up in the trash can in the principal's office.
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission says the warmer weather makes gators more active. As a rule of thumb, experts say alligators will generally not bother people and should be left alone unless they pose a threat.