Hiking Marshall Swamp

I live in the Shores area of Ocala. I live really close to an entrance to the Marshall Swamp Trail.  The trail looks pretty primative. I walked an hour and a half on one part of it the other day. The path was really grassy and about 20 feet wide with lots of brush and branches and trees on the path.  I ran into a family of about 4 foot alligators off to the side sunning themselves on some logs in the water. They didn't look like they could harm me. I was just praying that the big mama alligator wasn't too close by. My wife keeps warning me about wild hogs in the swamp,  When I went there after the two days of rain the other day I got a glimpse of a small black snake getting the heck out of my way as I was walking.  Then yesterday I was there again hoping the rain might have receded and it was still too flooded to walk but I was at the edge of the swamp and there was a hole with water in it and a palm branch over the hole. I picked up the palm branch and there was a massive spider under there he was on a tree root that was going into the water. I assume that the giant spider was fishing? The spider in size must have been one or two sizes down from a tarantula.  I know I should have had my camera. The area where I have been hiking is at the end of Midway Road off of 464. I was wondering if anyone else can tell me about any dangerous creepy crawly bugs, or do I really have to worry about the wild spiders, mama gaters coming after me.  Wonder what kind of poisonous snakes are in central florida swamps and should I get a pair of hiking gaiters?