B.C. reptile rescuers tackled a 2.3-metre-long alligator Tuesday as it said goodbye to its old home and moved into new digs.

The American alligator has lived in a shed in Langley for 15 years, but its owner is leaving the country and can't take care of it any longer.

That's where Mike Hopcraft stepped in.

The self-styled "Reptile Guy" operates a rescue centre in Abbotsford, where abused and abandoned pets get a second chance. After a government permit to keep the animal was approved, Hopcraft and his team were ready to swoop in and subdue the massive reptile for transportation.

Once Hopcraft and former owner David O'Hara had wrestled the gator into submission, team members covered the animal's eyes with a towel, secured its jaws and duct-taped its legs to its sides.

"The tape is to immobilize her arms: One, so she doesn't move around in the van while we transport her, and two, so she doesn't hurt herself or us," Hopcraft explained.

"Once they realize they can't move, they calm right down."

He said he was a bit disappointed when the reptile failed to put up much of a struggle.

"She's a little bit wimpy," he said. "I was expecting more action, but it was good that it didn't happen."

Despite that apparent lack of moxie, Hopcraft said that the animal seemed healthy and well fed.

"She's nice and plump," he said.

He pointed to the tail and explained that alligators store fat and other nutrients there -- a pudgy tail means a healthy animal.

"She has a very fat tail," he said.

With the alligator restrained, Hopcraft's team had time to find out its confirm its gender, and had a big surprise for its long-time owner -- the animal named Big Al turned out to be Big Alice.

"I've been living a lie all these years?" O'Hara asked.

He kissed the gator's snout as she was loaded into a van to make the journey to Abbotsford.

O'Hara said he rescued the animal from a bad home while he was living in the southern U.S.

"I was infatuated with them years ago," he said.

While he was reluctant to give Big Alice up in his move to Thailand, O'Hara said he knows the gator is going to a good home.

"I'm very confident that these guys are going to look after her very well," he said.

Big Alice will now move into a new enclosure measuring 6.5 metres by 11 metres -- Hopcraft built it in just three days.

"It's got a nice little basking spot," Hopcraft said. "But even my enclosure, I would like it to be bigger."

Caring for the gator will be expensive, but Hopcraft said that income from recent TV work will help pay the bills.