Snakes in Summerville?????? (Columbia, Charleston: homes, living, safe)

[Summering]

Originally Posted by pokrplr

Ohhhhh Yes their in Summerville, even on MY street...

Coming home from work yesterday there was a 5-6 ft one sunbathing in the middle of the street...

Being the humanist that I am, I walk over to him and move him off the road...He only hissed a few times then I guess realized I was trying to help him and cooperated nicely.

Have no clue what kind it was...

That is just too, too, brave.........one hiss and I am running

[DJShymansky]

I still haven't gotten past the "I guess he realized I was trying to help him..." part.

[Treblerose81]

Anywhere you live, but especially in the south or near water is going to have snakes, but you have to remember, they are ALOT more scared of us then we are of them. A good thing to do is to learn to recognize the type that are common in your area so you know what it is, you will feel much better. I also recommend you do some research on snakes in general, and teach your children about them, you will be much less afraid if you know alittle about them. Snakes will not bother you unless you get near thier nest, food, or corner them, they will just run away.
Stay away from tall grass and rock beds as these are the most common nesting and hunting grounds. As for your backyard, keep the grass short and try to keep rodents out and you wont have a snake problem.
If your daughters like to catch snakes to play with make sure you teach them how to tell the difference between safe and poisonous ones show them lots of pictures of the common ones, and maybe consider getting them a pet of some kind to play with instead. I doubt you would do it, but there are a number of types of snakes that make great pets.

[meks]

I've seen 5 snakes in the last 2 days, they are everywhere here just like in many places...

timber rattler, mud snake, king snake, garter and a black racer... most near the edge of woods or the canal by the bike/walking path in S'Ville

and jfyi they won't chase you... lol

go check out all the snakes at the Serpentarium on Edisto Is. and you'll get a ton of good info on what's here Edisto Island Serpentarium

[pokrplr]

Originally Posted by DJShymansky

I still haven't gotten past the "I guess he realized I was trying to help him..." part.

In an attempt to avoid seeing snake stew splattered all over road "he realized "ooooh" this dude's trying to help me and scooted cross the road into the woods" LOL

[ChasHome]

My neighbor tried to scare us about snakes when we moved in (Mt Pleasant). Our neighborhood backs to marsh and we have some wooded areas around. I've seen ONE snake in five years in my yard and it was dead --- dropped by a hawk or Osprey into our driveway. Sorry-- now you'll be looking UP for snakes too!!

If you have plenty of activity in your yard, the snakes will go elsewhere. We have an indoor-outdoor cat and a number of other neighborhood cats that visit -- with all the activity the critters go elsewhere.

[tgava]

Just a quick FYI: My brother found a dead diamond back rattler on the road today, near The Pines, in Summervlle. He said it was about 4 feet long and (flattened) 4 inches wide.

[dudme]

If you are moving to costal SC then two things that will become apparent pretty quickly: They have snakes and they have alligators.... and in the housing developments.
I moved to the Summerville/Dorchester area from Virginia and lived there for eight years. I saw both quite often. Every Saturday I would see a different snake in my yard. I never had any poisonous snakes in my yard that I saw, but at nearby Beidler Forrest you see Cottonmouths everywhere. In the two mile boardwalk it is not uncommon to see four or five Cottonmouth Water Moccasins lying about.
I remember my first time touring Magnolia Plantation’s Swamp Garden and being amazed at the amount of alligators that were out there. They frequent gold courses as well, and neighborhoods that have installed water features (ponds, fountains, ect…) attract the gators.
None of this made the Summerville area a bad place to live. You just have to be aware, and the potential for seeing poisonous snakes is pretty high.

[mandykolb15]

I used to live in Knightsville, which is just outside of Summerville. Summerville is a beautiful area that ranges from historic downtown to suburbs, to rural. There are a lot of woods, forests, water, etc around, making Summerville a wonderful habitat for people and animals (including wildlife). At my home in Knightville we had 3 acres, half of which was still wooded marshland. We had a lot of wildlife all the time. Coons (raccoons) and oppossums would sit on our front porch. Fox and the like would dart across the road. While raking our back yard (right behind the home and ac unit) I almost stepped on a baby copperhead, meaning there was a nest under the house. A month or so later, we had to replace the AC unit and another copperhead was under it (that was directly beneath my bedroom window). We also had gators, turtle and other critters in the back yard. We never had any issues, even when we let our dogs roam lose in the neighborhood. As for spiders, there are a lot of poisonous spiders everywhere. In my room I was biten by a brown recluse, as was my boyfriend. Black Widows are also pretty common.

I know live in Goose Creek, a mile behind the Walmart, in a very "close" city neighborhood. We have a ditch behind our house on the other side of the fence. My cousin had to kill a water mocassin that had our Beagle at bay. We have had few other non-venomous snakes as well.

My cousin lives in Bethera, which is a small town outside of Moncks Corner (about 45 miles from Knightsville). They own 6 acres in the Francis Marion National Forest. They see snakes daily (multiple snakes, venomous and non-venomous). We constantly get snakes out of the road so they don't get run over, kill injured snakes so they don't suffer, etc. Just yesterday my boyfriend came across 5 snakes that he did not recognize and he asked me to do a search. It was a Southern ringnecked snake (which I have never heard of and I've lived here almost 22 years).

The point is, snakes are everywhere in the south. There are some things you can do to minimize there appearance in your yard (like keep all yard debris up; such as logs, stumps, leaves, etc). But you cannot find a place down here that does not have snakes and spiders. SC is not for the faint-of-heart when it comes to critters.

[Techgeek]

The short simple answer is yes.

Especially near wooded areas.

I used to live in Ashborough East and would walk my dog down to the Y on the bike path and she would occasionally try to tangle with a water moccasin I also saw one in my backyard once and occasionally when riding my bike I will see snakes along the side of the road in Wescott/Kings Grant/Ladson.


Leave them alone unless they attack you first. Keep your pets on a short leash as much as possible. I believe there are treatments for lawns and such to reduce the number in your yard. And if you must pick one up and aren't sure if it is poisonous get behind it and grab near the head so it can't swing around and bite you or just use a stick.