BABCOCK RANCH, Fla. – In a scene straight out of a horror movie, an 11- to 12-foot alligator was found hanging out in the master bedroom of a newly built southwest Florida home. The bizarre discovery was made this month in Babcock Ranch, where homes sell for as much as $1.5 million. The community is northeast of Fort Myers.

A man installing window blinds stumbled on the alligator – tucked in the corner of a spacious room that, luckily, had tile flooring.

It took two professional trappers to pull the alligator out through a patio door – after the sliding glass was removed.

Video shows the reptile went into a death roll multiple times, something that is typically reserved for subduing prey. When the alligator calmed down, three men dragged it to the front yard to be loaded into a vehicle.

It’s believed the alligator was seeking shelter from a cold front and found a laundry room door to crawl through, project manager Matthew Goodwin told McClatchy News.

“The wind closed the door and he was trapped. He went into every room and made his mark,” Goodwin said, noting he was called by a construction manager to come see something “important.”

“I go look in … (the) house and there was the 12-foot gator!”

News of the discovery prompted a lot of jokes on social media, including references to bad roommates and unbelievable insurance claims.

“If home prices weren’t scary enough, can you imagine this inside?” WINK weather personality Matt Devitt wrote on Facebook.

“Welcome to Florida where dinosaurs show up to open houses,” Anthony Champney posted.

“Free pet with purchase of home. What a deal,” Mark Costa said.

Video shows a pond sits behind the home, which may be where the alligator was residing before it sought an upgrade. The gator was released in a wilderness area by the trappers, Goodwin said.

By Mark Price | © 2022 The Charlotte Observer. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.