Taking a job in Lenexa, KS...info please

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I now live in Lenexa but I grew up on a farm in this area and we had about 60 acres of woods. I have never seen a rattlesnake other than in captivity. I have seen copperheads and water moccasins, but never in the city. The most you'll see is an occasional garter snake or even less often a gopher snake or black snake. They are very harmless.

We do have basements in Kansas, which are good for the annaul to semi-annual tornado warning. By the way, in the 45 years living in this area, I've never seen one of those either.

Welcome to Lenexa! We have a great BBQ cook off and a fun Spinach festival annually!

[xpnctoc]

The other respondants who have advised you not to get too worked up over snakes are right on the money.

I moved to Lenexa from the east coast in July 2007. I had two big worries: tornados and brown recluse spiders, the latter of which I've read give really nasty bites that can lead to death. Well, a year later I've seen a few spiders crawling in my closet (they are not alive to talk about it), BUT ONLY 1 brown recluse -- and that was in Tulsa, OK at my uncle-in-law's house.

As for the tornados, I just did my part in apartment hunting by getting a townhouse with a full basement. My wife and I are in the housing market now, and it's the same thing. I'm actually pretty stunned by the number of houses here that have only crawl space or that are just built on a "slab". How can you live in this area and not have tornado shelter??? But then, my wife and I have looked at houses that have been standing for over 100 years here. Maybe my thoughts on tornado shelter are the result of residual east coast paranoia.

Back to your snakes... The bottom line is every place in the world has their own unique set of circumstances and conditions. Don't let it worry you so much or hinder you from doing what you have to do to live a fulfilling life.