Florida woman fighting to keep fully trained pet alligator Rambo after state says he’s too big: ‘He’s not a normal gator'

See you later, alligator.

A Florida woman said state officials are making her give up her beloved pet alligator — a gentle giant named Rambo who is potty trained, understands sign language and loves to dress up in costumes — because he’s grown too big.

 

“He’s like my son. He’s my family,” Rambo’s owner Mary Thorn told the Daily News Tuesday. “He’s not a normal gator. He has never been a normal gator.”

The Lakeland woman said a recent growth spurt put the 15-year-old Rambo at six feet long, and Florida Fish and Wildlife officials require gators that big to live on properties with at least 2.5 acres of open space.

But Thorn doesn’t have that extra land, so Rambo — an indoor gator who rarely goes outside — will need a new home, she said.

 

Thorn got Rambo 11 years ago. She adopted a pack of five gators who were kept in a cramped tank in a dark closet for the first four years of their lives, making them ultra-sensitive to light and skittish around other reptiles.

She tried putting them outside — but the weak, sun-sensitive creatures couldn’t handle the outdoors, she said.

“We tried treating them like gators, and one-by-one, they died,” she said. “So then with Rambo, we stopped treating him like a gator. We held him and kept him inside, and he got through it.”

Rambo spends most of his time inside the house around other family members and Thorn’s dogs. When he has to go outside, Thorne dresses him in clothes she made him herself to protect his sensitive skin from burning. Clothing for large dogs also fits the gator.

Thorn said she and Rambo are inseparable, they grew close as she nursed him back to health. The reptile waits at the door for her when she goes out and gets anxious if she’s gone too long.

She taught Rambo not to bite or swat his tail, and she even potty trained the gator. He does a wriggly dance when he has to go, so she knows to take him out, she said.

“He watches TV on top of my dogs,” she said. “People get along with him, kids love him. Brand new babies have sat with him to do pictures.”

Thorn takes the well-trained gator to schools and events to teach people about reptiles. Children especially love meeting Rambo, who poses on props for photos with his fans.

“When there’s kids around, he doesn’t want to hurt them even by accident, so he closes his mouth real tight so the kids can’t get their fingers inside,” she said. “He’s never hurt anyone.”

Wildlife officials are still investigating the case, so there’s a chance they could reverse the evection demand. If the gator has to go, Thorn said she has plans to send him to Croc Encounters, a wildlife sanctuary in Tampa. Still, even in the hands of professional reptile handlers, Thorn worries that too much sunlight and too much time with other animals could be fatal.

“They’ll treat him like a normal gator, and he’ll be dead in weeks,” she said. “If he gets put in a tent with other gators, they’ll eat him. His immune system is low — other gators will go after sick gators.”

John Paner, the director of Croc Encounters, said if Thorn gives them the gator, the team would keep him in a tented area away from other reptiles.

"As for the sun sensitivity I’ve never heard of anything like that before," he told the Daily News of Rambo's alleged condition. "But we won't take any chances."

Thorn said she sick over the idea of losing her beloved animal. In the 11 years she has had Rambo, the longest she’s been separated from him is a week.  

“I’m losing my kid, and that’s going to hurt a lot,” she said.