[citiesandall]

Forgive me for asking a potentially silly question:
I love certain aspects of Florida such as the heat and cost of living, and certainly others do too. However, how do residents avoid critters such as snakes and bugs such as the palmetto (roaches)? Certainly retirees and other people who dislike reptiles and bugs like myself can find a way to avoid them... Is the solution to live in a high rise condo? Call the pest control constantly? Use lots of snake fence? How do people deal with it?
Thanks for indulging me.

[ByeByeLW]

There are many threads on this subject.

I hike hundreds of miles a year and rarely see snakes. Many people do see them in their yards.

They’re not roaming around, poised to attack at any moment.

It disturbs me to think of how many species and critters have been destroyed due to human ignorance.

That’s all I’m going to say.

Good luck.

[LKJ1988]

Not many bugs and snakes to see jake. Born here in 1963 and caught maybe 50 snakes in my life and most were smaller black snakes. Bugs are not problem in the city kitty were most peeps live. I just caught a black snake this weekend speaking of snakes.

[kyle19125]

As mentioned snakes aren't an issue for the vast majority of residents as I have seen maybe three or four in my yard/shrubs in the many years living here. Bugs aren't an issue for most if you keep your house relatively clean. I enlist Terminix to spray the outside perimeter of the house quarterly and as a result see maybe two bugs a year. Roaches love mulch so if inclined would recommend using river rocks or pavers in planting beds around the perimeter of the house. If going the apartment or condo route bear in mind you can be a neat freak and adjoining units can be basically hoarder occupied, so no matter what you do you'll have a roach infestation as well.

[bgrasser]

Bugs and snakes aren’t your problem, it’s the Fire Ants that will do you.

[Arcenal813]

I have snakes in my yard. Behind my backyard is basically a huge sinkhole-turned-jungle, so lots of animals back there that can and do make their way into my yard. They don't really do anything. I found one that was aggressive once, and it may have been because my curious cat cornered it and swatted at it with her paw. Otherwise, they always just scurry away.
A mama bear and her cubs once made it into our yard as well, only to be greeted by a dog I was dog-sitting. I heard commotion and went to the back, only to see the mama bear jumping up and down and the dog dong the same. Bears eventually walked away.
There is LOTS of wildlife, but I embrace it for the most part. If there's anything that gets to me, it's spider webs everywhere. Not the spiders per say (some of them are actually pretty cool-looking) but the webs. There are also lots of insect nests all over the place, so if you're not careful, you might end up disturbing one and end up looking like chickenpox revisited.

[LifeIsGood01]

Those little lizards might wander into your home too. If they don't get out and find water and food and light and heat they may die. I've found a dried up one before. I see tons outside, I think they are cute, inside not so much. Bugs are a part of life here. I've never seen palmetto bugs in my area, mostly mosquitoes, flies and bees and horse flies during their season. I have a bug zapper I place outside when the dogs go out and I have the back door open. I had a good one inside too, but it broke within 3 months and the new one I bought is worthless, it wouldn't hurt a fly.

[Bumby88]

Snakes aren't a problem at all. Black Racers are the most common in yards and those are found all over the country I believe. I look for snakes and barely find any unless I'm hiking. Even then it's rare.

Palmetto bugs can be a problem if you don't spray for them. When you do, you'll see one dead or belly up and dying. No big deal.

Mosquitos are worse in the northern US than in Florida. Spiders are the same everywhere. I've never seen a Black Widow or Brown Recluse.

Chameleons, geckos, etc are absolutely everywhere but don't bother anyone. They eat tons of bugs so you probably wouldn't want to live here without them.

[bmw335xi]

Originally Posted by citiesandall

Forgive me for asking a potentially silly question:
I love certain aspects of Florida such as the heat and cost of living, and certainly others do too. However, how do residents avoid critters such as snakes and bugs such as the palmetto (roaches)? Certainly retirees and other people who dislike reptiles and bugs like myself can find a way to avoid them... Is the solution to live in a high rise condo? Call the pest control constantly? Use lots of snake fence? How do people deal with it?
Thanks for indulging me.

I rarely see any of those things besides little spiders outside the home or ants, oh and there are a lot of little lizards, but they are super cute to me. However, I live in a pretty developed area in Dr. Phillips. I have a pest control company that does routine maintenance and I use a lawn fertilizer/weed/insect control company as well.

If you buy a place out in the boonies, you are likely to see snakes and roaches even with pest control maintenance. If you live in a house in a developed part of town with pest control, you are less likely to see these things. If you live in a condo in downtown Orlando, you rarely will see these things if at all.

It doesn't bother most people here as most aren't a threat. I was more nervous of those giant angry spiders in the Northwest when I lived in Seattle. Now those are scary and they come inside you house a lot.

[butterflycricket]

I lived in Florida for 5years and NEVER a snake. Now, I did see a lot of frogs and one actually jumped on me as I opened the door. But that was once.. also, I agree with poster above who said ants are the problem. Any little tiny crumb will attract millions of ants.