Months tick by as gator remains stuck in Indigo Run drainage pipe

The alligator trapped in the drainage system at Indigo Run at least two months ago is still there, says Critter Management president Joe Maffo.

No one knows when the reptile first wandered out of a lagoon and into the plantation's drainage system, unable to turn around in the 2-foot-wide pipe, but he was discovered in January.

The 11-foot gator has given up trying to nose his way out of a vertical drainpipe and has returned to the mile-long system of horizontal drainage pipes coursing through the plantation, according to Maffo.

Maffo first attempted to catch the gator and remove it in early January, but his snares were unsuccessful.

By the time residents found the creature, it had rubbed off most of the skin on its nose while trying to free itself from under the drain cover.

Maffo says he has set up motion detectors in the drain to alert him if the alligator passes, but no movement has been registered in more than a month. That could be because it is cold and the alligator has gone into semi-hibernation, Maffo said. There are fish to eat in the drain, but the alligator could survive for two years without food.

With no record of his movements in the past month, some wonder if the alligator has died.

Maffo says no.

"He's a lot smarter than that," he said. "He's going to show his face sooner or later."