People who live in and around Los Fresnos are paying a little extra attention to their surroundings after an 11'10" alligator was caught taking a nap under a tree on Sunday.

Julie Acosta and her family just moved in six months ago. They were on their way to church when she saw crews trying to capture the alligator.

"It was crazy, like they were trying to get it, and you saw the alligator doing the little twist maneuver, and you see the big pansa rolling," Acosta said.

Jacob Reinbolt, better known as Gator Jake, and his team secured the gator along with the Texas Game Wardens and Cameron County Sheriff's Office.

Reinbolt is with the South Padre Island Birding Nature and Alligator Sanctuary. It's his job to know gators and he believes the one found in Los Fresnos was probably looking for a new water source.

"They are much more at home in water. When they run out, they will find it somewhere. With the drought he was going through, he ran out of water, and he was en route to a new place, but unfortunately, it took him to a residential neighborhood," Reinbolt said.

Reinbolt says the alligator was likely living in the San Benito or Los Fresnos area.

"There is a lot of water from that vicinity, and they will travel quite of ways on land, but I can't say specifically, but most of the bodies of fresh water, there is a high likelihood that there are alligators there," Reinbolt said.

Reinbolt says people can expect to see more gators in neighborhoods. He says drought conditions are causing lower water levels in the wild, forcing gators to get out of their habitats into ours.

Families, like Acosta, say they'll pay extra attention.

"It was an eye-opener that you don't imagine seeing something like that, especially a neighborhood filled with kids, and given the fact that school is just down the street," Acosta said. "We are definitely going to be more vigilant and be more extra aware of our surroundings. It's nature and anything can happen."

That 11'10" alligator captured napping under a tree was released into the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge.

If you see an alligator experts say do not feed it, instead call the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

Watch the video above for the full story.