‘Screaming’ family calls dad when alligator knocks at front door, FL video shows

Goofy things are expected when kids call their dad for unexpected reasons, but Tramaine Gaines was in disbelief when his family claimed an alligator was trying to break in.

A security camera confirmed it, however.

“Got a call about 30 min ago from my wife and kids screaming come help there is a gator at our front door,” Gaines wrote in a Wednesday, April 23, Facebook post.

“I check the Ring camera to find this massive gator chilling. Trying to get in the damn door. You can’t make this up.”

It happened around 7 p.m. Wednesday, at a home outside of Orlando, and multiple videos of the strange visit have appeared on social media.

Gaines’ wife, wedding photographer Nathalie Gaines, said suspicious sounds led her discover the “massive” alligator lying across the doormat — with its mouth open.

“I heard a knock at the door, and then nothing else. I waited a little while, and then I heard it again,” she told WOFL. “The first time, when it knocked at the door, it stood up and kind of banged on the door, and then laid back down.”

The fate of the alligator was not revealed, but one video shows it eventually left the porch and took off for a wooded area.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission says alligators often try “to climb up and over man-made structures” that block their path.

“In this video, the alligator appears to be using these natural navigational techniques in an attempt to leave the area,” FWC officials told McClatchy News.

It is alligator courtship season in Florida, a time when the reptiles wander in search of mates.

That search occasionally takes alligators through populated areas and even onto porches, experts say.

This story was originally published April 25, 2025 at 8:18 AM with the headline "‘Screaming’ family calls dad when alligator knocks at front door, FL video shows."