PALMETTO, Florida - A Tampa-area woman found an unwelcome weekend guest in her bathroom - a 7-foot (2-meter) alligator.

Alexis Dunbar told WFLA-TV that she screamed and the alligator hissed when she found it inside the bathroom of her home Saturday afternoon. Her boyfriend propped a small table by the bathroom to keep the gator inside until an officer from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission showed up to take him away.

Dunbar believes the alligator used a doggie door on the back porch to get inside the house. Dunbar lives in Palmetto, which is south of St. Petersburg.

Spring is mating season for alligators and wildlife officials urge people to be extremely cautious, especially around water.