2007-06-11 20:41:00 -

LOS ANGELES (AP) - The urban alligator Reggie, captured in a Los Angeles lake last month, has been declared healthy and definitely male by veterinarians at the city zoo.
Reggie underwent his first medical exam last week and veterinarians determined his size _ 7½ feet (2.3 meters) long, 111 pounds (50 kilograms) _ and his sex,

which is a delicate process involving internal probing. He is a boy.
Blood was also drawn to test for disease, but it will take weeks for the results to come back. A microchip _ an identifier transponder in his tail _ was also installed so Reggie can be identified if he gets lost again.
«He's a great patient,» said Dr. Curtis Eng, chief veterinarian at the Los Angeles Zoo. «We manually restrained him, but we didn't have to use any chemicals. He was easy to handle.
He remains quarantined at the zoo and has not eaten anything since his capture at Machado Lake on May 24. But Eng said it is not a concern, noting alligators begin eating only as temperatures rise in the spring.
«He has been offered food but he hasn't eaten for us yet,» Eng said. The alligator has been offered fish, chicken and other «meat products.
«We think the ambient temperature is not hot enough to stimulate him to eat yet,» Eng said.

Reggie, who eluded capture for 18 months, was an illegal pet that outgrew his welcome and was allegedly tossed by a former policeman into the 50-acre (20-hectare) lake. He was first spotted in the murky lake in August 2005.
Reggie is confined to a 10-by-60-foot (3-by-18-meter) pen, with both indoor and outdoor sections. The indoor area includes a 6-foot (1.8-meter) deep pool.
«He's been doing a lot of basking outside,» Eng said. «I hear he's getting comfortable in his environment, he's starting to stay outside the pool.