We back on an environmental area/golf course. We have two small ponds about 150 feet from the house. Having two dogs, I was skeptical about having any water nearby. Before moving in, we talked to neighbors who had lived on the street for six years. They said they'd never seen a gator, the ponds aren't big enough.
We moved in and got invisible fencing for the dogs. I always check the ponds for gators sunning themselves before I let the dogs out. When the dogs are outside, I always supervise them. Two years ago, there was a gator sunning himself by one of the ponds.
The following day it disappeared.
The moral of this story: It's Florida .... where there is water, there can well be gators. They travel through the irrigation pipes. Sometimes they walk by people's houses, travelling from one pond to another. Be careful, they move with great bursts of speed.
P.S. Thanks to Firewalker for his interesting comments about gators.