Los Angeles ? You can’t keep a good gator down.

An alligator that became a celebrity after eluding trappers for nearly two years at an urban lake managed to escape from his new home at the Los Angeles Zoo on Wednesday. It was nearly opening time before Reggie was caught.

Keepers discovered the 7 1/2-foot gator was missing from his personal exhibit pond about 7:30 a.m., and a search of every rock and bush proved he wasn’t anywhere in the display.

The wily beast was finally found near a loading dock several hundred yards away shortly before the zoo’s 10 a.m. opening time, spokesman Jason Jacobs said.