It's generally thought that any body of water in alligator territory (which includes ALL of Florida) large enough to physically fit an alligator will at some point in time have an alligator in it. You DO see them in The Villages... and everywhere outside of The Villages, too!
People who grew up here (which I was not fortunate enough to do) say that gators generally feed at dusk or dawn and only have to feed once a week or so. If you see them laying up on the grass outside of a body of water, they are normally just storing up solar energy to allow them to digest. They are NOT trying to feed then. To feed, they generally stay in the water and grab things that are either already in the water or at water's edge. Alligators can be quite fast, but not for long. If you stay at least 20 feet or more from them, they will usually not even try to go for you, figuring that you'll leap away and get away from them while they use up their short burst of speed. Of course, if you let your pet run free or on a long leash and they like to stay down at the edge of the water and bark at that funny looking log, they might easily end up as a gator snack.
Some people are proud of the fact that they call animal control whenever they see an alligator in ponds behind their houses. These gators are caught and killed; they are NOT resettled in some distant swamp or gator sanctuary. To me, that's just a crying shame. They really don't bother us and they were here first. Alligators are wonderfully adapted survivors based on millions of years of evolution and yet we might be the death of them. Watch and enjoy them instead. It's really thrilling to watch one arch his head and tail up and bellow in the water to attract a mate; you'll see the water "dance" all along their backs. Just never, EVER feed them! They will associate humans with food and overcome their leeriness of humans and start to follow us. They they have to be caught and killed. As they say, "A fed alligator is a dead alligator."
I've tried gator meat with very mixed success. I had it in Texas once with some wonderful sauce and it was very tasty. Almost every other time, I must have gotten the bad cuts of meat as it so gristly that it was like chewing on knuckles. Your mileage may vary.
If you want to see some HUGE alligators, go to Gator World near The Villages (you can even hold a small one!) or Gator Land down in Orlando. Busch Gardens has some big ones as well.
By the way, alligators aren't the only wildlife in The Villages. People (not me, but I'm still looking) have seen Florida panthers, bobcat, coyote and otters. My wife and I have seen raccoons, armadillos, turtles and a large variety of great birds. There are some great spots like the Rose Weichens Preserve and the walking trails down in Fenney plus tons of parks, wildlife preserves, landfills and other great places outside The Villages to see wildlife. There are also any number of groups who enjoy going to see them, such as The Village Birders for birding. <full disclosure: I am a proud member of The Village Birders and also The Brownwood Birders>
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