Florida Woman cradles baby alligator in maternity photo shoot

TAMPA — A gator. A beer. A pack of cigarettes. A shotgun.

To Lindsey Tuttle, that's a Florida Woman.

And in a maternity shoot that went semi-viral on Facebook in the past week, the 26-year-old Tampa native put an exact visual to the stereotype she loves.

The dramatic photograph shows Tuttle on a dirt road out in Myakka City, clad in black boots and half-unzipped denim shorts, cradling a live alligator (fed from a baby bottle by husband Jonathan) and staring off into the distance, as a shotgun gently rests on a bright blue case of Bud Light. The state flag waves behind her, claiming the territory for all Florida-kind.

"Alligators don't like to bottlefeed, apparently," the caption reads. The alligator's name is Fred.

"It turned out perfect," she said Saturday. "This is like the exact vision I had of a Florida Woman shoot."

Facebook friends liked and shared, and as Tuttle, a manager for a real estate photography company, posted the picture in Florida meme groups, it started to gain traction.

To her, the "Florida Woman" and "Florida Man" images come from outrageous crime headlines, which she thinks don't have to have anything in common except their absurdity.

"I think that the common theme within all those crazy articles is that it's just kind of someone who's rowdy and doing something spur-of-the-moment."

Tuttle said though the photo has gotten some criticism — she assures that she didn't just snatch the alligator out of the wild, and the gun is an old family heirloom — most people have been nice about it.

"I knew it would have elicited a reaction, just because it's so over-the-top and ridiculous," she said.

The expectant mother said she is due in early March. She's keeping the names for her Florida Baby under wraps.

McKenna Oxenden contributed to this report. Contact Langston Taylor at 727-893-8659 or ltaylor@tampabay.com. Follow @langstonitaylor.