An Oldsmar family got a big surprise Thursday morning when deputies spotted an alligator lodged under the family's car.

  • Deputies in neighborhood on another call
  • Family warned to not come out of the house
  • Originally from Texas, family took it as "Welcome to Florida"

Paige Manning said deputies were in her neighborhood on Split Fork Drive answering a disturbance call when they saw the alligator.

They immediately knocked on her door to warn her not to go outside.

"It was totally hidden. His head was at the back of the tire and then his tail went all the day down to the front," said Paige Manning. "I was pretty freaked out. We're from Texas so this was kind of a 'Welcome to Florida,' I guess."

Manning said she's lucky the gator was found before she and her daughter, Alexis, 3, went out to get in the car.

"When we leave the house, I lock the door and she runs around to her side of the car and just stands there waiting for me to unlock it. The way they stick the little pole down there, the alligator really grabbed it. I mean, it could have been her leg," said Manning.

Trappers came and removed the alligator, but Manning said she's still on edge. The family doesn't live on the water, and she said she has no idea where the alligator came from.

"I would never expect an alligator under my car ever in a million years, and now I will be looking everywhere, in the bushes and everything," said Manning. "I'm paranoid now."