Snake sightings in Parkland (Coral Springs, Everglades: condo, tenant, living in)

[Chuck in Ft Lauderdale]

I live in Heron Bay and have noticed for about the past couple of weeks, when out for a walk, I have seen several snakes. mostly water moccasins. Up to this point, I have had 3 sightings of moccasins in two weeks, they have not been aggressive, you just see them crossing the road, one we saw coiled up under a tree. I am in no way saying the place is overrun with snakes, I am sure this is due to the recent heavy rainfall, they are looking for higher ground. I have seen them mostly on Heron bay blvd by the glades (who would have thought, right?). Its a normal part of the landscape here. We are parked right on the edge of one of the biggest nature preserves in the country. Its a fantastic facet of living here. And there is never a problem. This morning was a bit different. We were taking the garbage out when a small moccasin jumped out at my wife from some shrubs, literally right at the base of the stairs to our condo, it was an adolescent but aggressive. I killed it later, as it had coiled up at the foot of our stairs and seemed to be nesting there. I would NEVER kill a snake as for the most part they are good to have around, but in this case felt it necessary, as there are small children around and our neighbors just had a baby last week, so this snake was not in a good spot, and seeing how aggressive it had been, it had to go. Very disturbing experience. I should note that my back yard is literally the Everglades, a small fence, a canal and then around 80 miles of swamp. Its beautiful, we have fantastic sunsets, lots of amazing birds, I love the place and am not complaining, and this is not something that ever happened before. At any rate I wanted to warn my neighbors here to be alert as they seem to be around and about right now. I have lived here about 9 months and never saw any snakes before this week, I am sure its due to the rain. Do not kill them if you can avoid it. Most snakes will run before choosing to attack. There are also a few local businesses that specialize in trapping/removing snakes without killing them. I guess its the price you pay for living this close to the glades. At any rate its a nice community and I think this will stop when the rain lets up. But I wanted to warn people, if you are out for a walk with your dog, etc., be alert. I would also like to encourage people to post if you are seeing this also.

[Nolefan34]

Wow, that's a nice looking pic! You really nailed him! I had a similar thing happen with a Coral Snake once. Had to kill it since it was venomous and I didn't want to risk trying to catch it or shoe it out. Snakes are a part of FL and those Cottonmouths tend to be prevalent during heavy rains as you described. This is all over FL, not just Parkland.

[dedemoving]

Wow been in HB 3 years & have not seen one. I will be on the lookout we live on the "other side" of Heron Bay North & were away so we missed a lot of the rain. Thanks for the heads up. So many kids go barefoot in the grass with the heat not a good idea!!

[City Guy997S]

It happens.......but not sure that is a cottonmouth and being that it was about 9 inches long not sure how aggressive it could have been.

As far as Coral Snakes in the other post, you do realize they do not have fangs to inject venom as the others do so in order to "bite" they essentially have to gnaw on you to inject venom making the bites extremely rare. Their shared color pattern with the non-venomous King Snake also creates confusion as well.

[Nolefan34]

Originally Posted by City Guy997S

It happens.......but not sure that is a cottonmouth and being that it was about 9 inches long not sure how aggressive it could have been.

As far as Coral Snakes in the other post, you do realize they do not have fangs to inject venom as the others do so in order to "bite" they essentially have to gnaw on you to inject venom making the bites extremely rare. Their shared color pattern with the non-venomous King Snake also creates confusion as well.

The snake in his pic is certainly a Cottonmouth. Even a youngster is quite dangerous. And yes I am aware that Coral snakes are non-aggressive, but they will still bite you if you accidentally step on one barefoot. They are also more lethal than a Cottonmouth in terms of the potency of their poison.

BTW I know my snakes very well. Mistaking a King Snake for a Coral Snake is rookie stuff.

[dive77mmwet]

when you live in Heron Bay look at that big hill in your back yard, the berm,mountain ,wall its a **** holding back the swamp we call the everglades , its total insanity building communities in areas like this but oh well you build it they will come! and yes wild life is normal, should see I cant post file too large? of the gator in our pool a tenant found property in Parkland last year, made the news!

[TreeZoo]

I used to work in western Parkland when it was all farms, rock pits and nurseries. All the rock roads were elevated above the fields and when it would rain incessantly, as it is wont to do, the roads were littered with snakes. It is not exaggerating to say that every 100 sq feet of road had a snake on it. You could not drive the road without killing dozens or even hundreds of snakes. I did not care to get out of the truck to ID them or shoo them away.

[Dan Mackey]

Has anyone seen any non-native snakes including pythons in Parkland/Heron Bay/Coral Springs?

[Whereitwent]

Invasive reptiles are commonplace throughout the entirety of Florida, particularly in South Florida. Given Parkland borders the Everglades, sightings and incidents involving large invasive snakes, like Burmese Pythons, for example, are extremely common in that area -- but they are everywhere in South Florida, having been sighted well inland. Efforts by the government and hunters to control the population have largely failed, and Burmese Pythons continue to reproduce like wildfire in South Florida. Currently, the government estimates that there are minimally 300,000 feral Burmese pythons living in South Florida, but the actual number may be above 500,000 individuals.

[City Guy997S]

Originally Posted by Whereitwent

Invasive reptiles are commonplace throughout the entirety of Florida, particularly in South Florida. Given Parkland borders the Everglades, sightings and incidents involving large invasive snakes, like Burmese Pythons, for example, are extremely common in that area -- but they are everywhere in South Florida, having been sighted well inland. Efforts by the government and hunters to control the population have largely failed, and Burmese Pythons continue to reproduce like wildfire in South Florida. Currently, the government estimates that there are minimally 300,000 feral Burmese pythons living in South Florida, but the actual number may be above 500,000 individuals.

got any links to support your speculations of 300,000-500,000 pythons?

USGS states tens of thousands in their guesstimate:
https://www2.usgs.gov/faq/categories/9785/3262