snakes in Denver area (Castle Rock, Evans: mover, townhouse, tornado)

[doublea1269]

My wife and I are considering a relocation to one of the Denver area suburbs (we live near Boston), but I have a bit of an unusual problem: a fear of snakes that defies description! Here in the northeast, we only see the occasional little garter snake, maybe once every 2 or 3 years. Do residents of the Denver suburbs frequently find snakes on their property, particularly big ones or rattlers?

Also, having really only dealt with hurricanes (none in last 15 years or so) and snow, we haven't had much experience with tornadoes, earthquakes, etc. Any of those occur much in the Denver suburbs?

[MorningGlory]

Earthquakes very tiny and infrequent. Tornados, well stay off the plains, stick to the west side. My son got bit by a rattlesnake in 2000, that was in the foothills west of Denver in an open space park, stay on trails and avoid prairie dog towns. We have little garter snakes, they eat bugs and are beneficial, never seen a big one. Most people probably never see them. No hurricanes of course. Snow we can get a lot of but some years barely any, you never know. If snakes are your phobia this is not a bad place, bites are rare, just research them so you know what to avoid.

[kwk722]

Snakes arent a problem in the metro area, but outskirts of town have seen them now and then. Castle Rock, Castle Pines has plenty of them, Bull snakes too, which are good to have around.

[sumisu]

Hi - I've lived here most of my life and have never seen a rattler. Some park areas and golf courses do have warning signs about avoiding straying into certain areas. There are also mountain lion sitings in urban areas in the Spring when they're looking for food. Good luck. Sumisu

[Augie Daugie]

My dog tried to pick up a rattler at Cherry Creek State Park a few weeks ago. I had to shoo her away from it...she'd never seen a snake before.

Like everyone has said, anywhere in the metro area is fine. Stay away from the open areas in the foothills and along the outskirts of town.

[mover6]

in case you did not receive my other post..............there are snakes in the suburbs of denver..........we are a desert in the sky. Everything is pretty much yellow except in the mountains and snakes love the dry weather.
Bring an oxygen tank with you, it is also harder to breathe in this high altitude living.........

best wishes.

[tfox]

Originally Posted by mover6

Bring an oxygen tank with you, it is also harder to breathe in this high altitude living.........

Uhh..no. Denver is NOT high altitude living. 5280 feet... one of the lowest elevations around. Go to Leadville... there's some high altitude living for you. No one uses an oxygen tank in Denver.

[formercalifornian]

I haven't yet seen a rattle snake in my yard (Castle Rock), but my neighbor up the street had one removed by an Animal Control Officer. She was not happy about it! After finding a black widow spider in the garage earlier this summer, I just reminded my children to give any spider or snake a wide berth.

[COflower]

When I lived in what is now Centennial the only snakes I saw were garter snakes (they liked the siding against the townhouse). I lived off the Green Belt so they were pretty much around.

I've lived in Colorado all my life and outside of garter snakes, I've never seen any other kind of snake.

I do miss the owl pair that lived around the townhouse I lived in. One had a bad eye and let me within 3 feet of him/her. I loved to listen to them at night talk back and forth.

Never, in the 34 years I hve lived on the Front Range of Colorado, have I seen or been in a tornado. I have seen funnel clouds, mostly when I lived in Denver and that was 1998 (or 1997) when the last part of the summer was a particularly wild monsoon season.

Never felt an earthquake and when we do have them, most are on the southern and western ends of the state. Here's a good "history" of significant Colorado earthquakes:

Colorado

[kwk722]

Originally Posted by COflower

Never, in the 34 years I hve lived on the Front Range of Colorado, have I seen or been in a tornado. I have seen funnel clouds, mostly when I lived in Denver and that was 1998 (or 1997) when the last part of the summer was a particularly wild monsoon season.

Wow! Ive seen plenty, mostly out further east.
Does anybody remember the tornado that touched down at Broadway and Evans? (1988 or 89 maybe)

Ive seen a couple rattlers and several Bull snakes in Castle Pines. Ive heard a couple reports of people finding them in their garage in the new houses in Diamond Ridge.