florida snakes (Orlando: crime, homes, live in)

[angvet20]

me and my mom are thinking about moving to florida but we have 3 dogs and are unsure about the snakes down there, can anyone tell me where the least amount of snakes are in florida and where they think a nice peacful town would be?

[AONE]

I have 6 dogs. I have to protect the snakes from my dogs... The only ones they have caught have been racers which are numerous.

I've seen several others but only one poisonous and he was so small a wrong step and would have been history.... he did have some attitude...lol

I guess anything can happen but I have never meet or heard of anyone with a bad snake -dog encounter... I did hear about a dumba$$ swimming his lab in a river with gators and that didnt work out so well. but that is a stupid owner.

Common sense and you should be just fine..

[brinkofsunshine]

There's no magical place in Florida where you will find less snakes, but in general they are more afraid of you than you are of them. Unless it's a water moccasin (which tend to stay near water), they most likely won't come after you. I have a very small dog and after 11 years, so far so good

[TedTLPN]

Oh yeah, the news is littered with stories of snakes killing dogs in Florida.

You need to worry about alligators a LOT more than snakes and as someone else stated it's the snakes that usually have something to fear with dogs.



PS, don't kill snakes unless you HAVE to, they do serve a purpose!!!

[DavieJ89]

GRanted, for the time I lived in Orlando, I never owned a dog myself, I lived in Florida for 10 years total and saw snakes in the wild 4 times, one snake was poisonous. My father had found a coral snake in our back yard that nearly bit my 3 yr old brother, that was back in 1998

I saw a black racer in 2007, and again in 2009. I dont think snakes are really that big a problem personally, but its still a good idea to use caution when walking in any grassy area or near any water. (I hear that water moccasins have a real nasty bite, and they are venomous)

Snakes native to Central Florida (poisonous and non poisonous)
-Eastern Diamondback Rattler
-Pigmy Rattler
-Black Racer - non venomous
-Garden Snake - non venomous
-Coral Snake
-King Snake (similar to Coral but of a different color scheme and non venomous)
-Cottonmouth Water Moccasin

a further list of snakes native to FL
FLMNH - List of Florida Snakes

If anything, you will run into this snake the most, which is comepletely harmless
http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/herpetology...sssirtalis.htm

Also remember, like most animals snakes are more afraid of you than you are of them

And if you do live near any bodies of water (which Orlando has MORE than plenty of) watch out moreso for the gators, a lot of dumb people feed the gators (a serious crime in FL) and they become less afraid to approach

[SeaWorld Bound]

Hi,
um, you feed the gators in FL...serious??? why?
we have snakes here and I live in the midwest! I've personally have gotten one out of my yard with a rail rake. my kids did the others.
I'm not too worried with my dog, but was wondering...couldn't we pay a "bug company" to come and treat the yard???? or is there no such thing?
are there safer areas of town that have no problems with snakes / gators?

[IAm_FloridaBorn]

Originally Posted by SeaWorld Bound

Hi,
um, you feed the gators in FL...serious??? why?
we have snakes here and I live in the midwest! I've personally have gotten one out of my yard with a rail rake. my kids did the others.
I'm not too worried with my dog, but was wondering...couldn't we pay a "bug company" to come and treat the yard???? or is there no such thing?
are there safer areas of town that have no problems with snakes / gators?

Feeding Gators IS Actually Fun. I pretty much feed most native land animals to Florida, not the ones in the water, thats where things can get a bit sketchy.
Esp at Gatorland it's fun. But Of course if you see a wild Gator it might make sense to turn the other way. Gators are not harmless, they will eat you. But at a safe distance they are okay to feed and enjoy.

[Alyzza]

Just remember this: red on black friend of jack, red on yellow killer fella.
That's what they told me when I moved here a long time ago.

I have two black snakes that live in the flowers, they don't hurt anything.

[the_windwalker]

The snakes that are native to FL are not a real problem with dogs. It's the ones that are not native that are becoming a problem. Generally less than 10 feet long, pythons have been removed from Pasco County which is west of Orlando. A python that size would choke on most dogs, but the ones that have not been caught are still growing. Today, they aren't big enough to be a huge problem in the sense that they can take down big prey, but they and the problem are growing.

A friend of mine is one of the people that traps and removes wildlife from property. In a small area of west Pasco County, he removes non-native snakes at a rate of 5 to 7 each year for the last 5 years.

[Crane's Rooster]

It's true there are snakes all over Florida but to reduce your chances of exposure try to stay away from places like natural preserves, pine scrubs, ponds (even man made retention ponds attract snakes), ditches and naturally shady areas. Snake are cold blooded and the FL sun is just too hot for them so it's rare you'll see a snake out in the open on a hot summer day. Most of the time they are hiding in shaded areas or in old buckets and planters and the like. When gardening or working outside, use a long tool (shovel, rake, hoe) to overturn all the items that may contain snakes. Snake sense vibration so stomp your feet a few times before approaching the bushes, sometimes that will bring them out. Inside homes the same rules apply, most snake found inside homes are in places like the garage hiding underneath furniture. If there is no where to hide they will curl up in a corner. If you do see a snake, stop and wait from a safe distance because given a chance the snake will usually slither away in the opposite direction.