In hindsight, Eric Merda says he probably should not have treaded into the waters of Lake Manatee for a swim.
The Florida man came face-to-face with an alligator who clamped onto his arm and wouldn't let go.
For three days, Merda was stuck in the swamp after the attack, losing his arm in the process.
Two months after the attack, Merda spoke of the incident for the first time, telling 10 Tampa Bay, "Not the smartest decision a Florida boy could make."
Merda described the attack saying, "I look over and there's a gator on my right-hand side so I went to swim and she got my forearm so I grabbed her like this, she was trying to roll but she snapped her head so my arm went backwards like this completely."
The alligator dragged Merda underwater three times. "She's already got my arm, so when we came up the third time, she finally did her death roll and took off with my arm," he explained.
Merda spent three days trying to figure his way out of the swamp, going back to the point where he jumped in the water.
Finally, he stumbled on a fence with a man on the other side.
"I said a gator got my arm, he said, 'holy smokes man!'" Merda said.
The first thing Merda said he wanted was water, and then he was on a stretcher headed to Sarasota Memorial Hospital where surgeons amputated the majority of his right arm.
Merda says he's getting used to his new normal, and now has a new perspective and wants to warn others to be more cautious around Florida waters.
"Do not feed the gators and you guys know who you are, throwing rocks at them, I've seen it on the job sites, leave them gators alone," Merda says.
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