A Florida family thought someone was trying to break into their apartment when they heard knocking sounds at four in the morning.

It turns out a 5-foot alligator was outside their front door early one Friday morning. And so were Tampa police officers.

Police and Florida Fish and Wildlife officers caught the gator and returned it to the wild.

It was the second such alligator-knocking incident in the South in recent weeks.

Preceding this episode, a gator wandered into a neighborhood near Charleston, South Carolina, and appeared to reach for the doorbell at one home. The incident was caught on video by Gary Rogers, whose daughter Danielle Barkley lives nearby.

Barkley says alligators have visited the neighborhood before, but it was the first time one seemed polite enough to use the doorbell!