Snakes in Sioux Falls? (Rapid City, Pierre: new house, living, cabin)

[littlebrook]

Hi,

My family and I will be moving to Sioux Falls next month. My wife is absolutely petrified of snakes and has become convinced that there will be snakes slithering all over the yard of our new house in the southern part of Sioux Falls (south of I-229). Are we likely to encounter snakes in the city?

Thanks

[exflyguy]

here's a site with some info & a telephone number to ask questions ...

Where are you coming from? My guess is you might have more snakes in the area you're from than in SD.

I actually crawled hand & foot over the coastal foothills in northern California & never ran into a single snake (don't mean I didn't see one, but I put myself in a position to actually disturb them and get bit easier than most & never encountered any during these hikes) in 12 years. The very few that I did see were at a distance as they scurried away from my vibrations.

Good luck with your move,


Chuck

Status of SD Snakes

[exflyguy]

Here's a better link to the whereabouts of the only poisonous snake in SD ...

South Dakota Prairie Rattlesnake

Here's a link to the index for many of the other snakes in SD.

South Dakota Snakes

All of these are from the same basic website.

Almost all snakes try to avoid humans - northamerican snakes are not generally agressive like some asian, pacific & Australian snakes.

I know that's no assurance or comfort for someone like your wife who is really afraid of them, but not even being a resident of SD, I think I can safely say you'd be very safe (I did spend time in the areas I mentioned above, to include some sleeping on the ground, and in 20 years I never had an issue).

Chuck

[MJ1986]

Originally Posted by littlebrook

Hi,

My family and I will be moving to Sioux Falls next month. My wife is absolutely petrified of snakes and has become convinced that there will be snakes slithering all over the yard of our new house in the southern part of Sioux Falls (south of I-229). Are we likely to encounter snakes in the city?

Thanks

Snakes are not an issue here... No worries!
Good luck with your move! Where are you moving from, if I may ask?

[littlebrook]

Originally Posted by MJ1986

Snakes are not an issue here... No worries!
Good luck with your move! Where are you moving from, if I may ask?

Hi,

Thanks for the replies. Now if only my wife would believe me that we needn't worry about snakes.

We're moving from Rochester, NY which I'm sure has just as many snakes but my wife seems to think SD is a snakepit. I put this down to her mum who tells her all these stories (some true, but mostly just grossly exagerated) about the time they spent in Rapid City when her dad was in the airforce.

Looking forward to moving to Sioux Falls. See you all in a month

[Jammie]

Hey Little, I'm also terrified of those gross, slithering things. I call them "Hissers" cause just the real word makes me cringe.

I won't lie. I have seen some during my 53 years here. I saw a huge bull hisser. He was out on a gravel road with fields on both sides of him. He stood up and he was tall. BUT I was in a pickup so I won.

I've seen a few smaller ones, too. But there have actually been years that have gone by where I haven't seen a one. If you live right in town, your chances of encountering them are pretty small. Generally, the majority of them meet their fate during lawn mowing.

Just be sure to not go West River and sleep in a sleeping bag or a tent on the ground. Otherwise, your wife should be fine.

[no8fann]

Originally Posted by Jammie

Just be sure to not go West River and sleep in a sleeping bag or a tent on the ground. Otherwise, your wife should be fine.

We've been here (Spearfish) about a week, and my dad spent three nights outside our cabin on the ground on an air mattress...no snakes! And trust me, he's not all that fond of them!

I would say if you do encounter anything in town, it's likely to be a harmless garter or ribbon snake - the same things you would get in Rochester (I lived in Upstate, so I have a general idea of your location). Like previously mentioned, most snakes in North America tend to run given the opportunity, and SF should be no exception!

[rjl78]

Big ol bull snakes. Hahahahaha. They are cantankerous, and funny at the same time. I hate snakes. I hate them a lot. Anyway one day out riding a pasture and seen a bull snake slide up the side of a stock tank and was getting a drink of water.

Rattle Snakes west river. Can't stand them. In Pierre about the only thing I have came across are the gardner snakes. Makes the dogs nuts.

I would knock out several rattlers a summer when I was haying. The most memorable was cutting hay was making great time, I hit the snake with the wheel of the mower, the good for nothing creature flew straight up into the air about 10 feet.

[jmgg]

In 54 years of living around Sioux Falls, I've never seen any other snake than a garter snake. There are plenty of them, but they're harmless. Played with them all the time as a kid.

The only time I've even heard of rattlers in the area was if some came in with hay from west river.

[nanjosbrand]

Not once in Sioux Falls have I seen an agressive snake. There was one time when I was growing up, a snake was crawling up our basement wall and I yelled to my dad that their was a snake in the house. He picked it up with his bare hands and threw it out the front door. Now if that didn't make an impression on my 8 year old eyes.
There are some homes that snakes do seem to congregate. I own five properties in Sioux Falls and there is one where for some reason, the snakes have chosen to surround it. Like the PP said, most snakes around the Sioux Falls area are garter snakes and they're harmless.