While seeing an alligator is never too much of a surprise in Florida, the number of close encounters has jumped in recent days and it’s likely due to a combination of hunger and lust. A family in Fort Myers was awakened by an eight-foot gator in their lanai in the middle of the night last week, police said on Facebook. In another part of town, a motorist captured footage of a massive gator casually strolling along a busy road:

MASSIVE FLORIDA GATOR!🐊 - Chelsea Brinson captured this huge gator talking a stroll in Fort Myers today! The video quickly went viral. The caption read: "Hey there buddy." #OnlyInFloridapic.twitter.com/jEV31yGetj — News4JAX (@wjxt4) April 12, 2019

With the mating season underway, the randy reptiles tend to be more active. But one expert told local media there was more to it than that. The weather is getting warmer and the higher temps speed up the reptiles’ metabolism and make them hungrier. “They have to find some food so that’s when we’ll find them on sidewalks and people’s pools,” Brian Norris of Florida Fish and Wildlife told Fox 4 in Fort Myers. “They’re really just out there browsing around.” Some might even be looking for chicken. A motorist in North Port had to call the cops after coming out of a chicken wing restaurant and finding a gator under the car: