Snakes
 

So here’s a question for you Floridans, how do you snake proof your house.
Asking for a friend.

We've been here for 9 years. Never had a snake in our house. Secret is no secret at all.
Do NOT leave your garage doors, sliding doors, front doors open. Snakes are fairly common. Most are camouflaged and you might be feet from one and not see it. .

...especially if it's turning cold, as they seek warmth and inside your house might look very appealing

I have only seen 2 snakes by the house so far; a black racer full grown 5 feet long, within inches of the lanai in the 3 years I’ve been here. I immediately went to Home Depot and bought a strong Toro blower. Toro can blow my husband away when used at full blast… lol. My neighbor just laughed, he said he has accidentally stepped on one of these snakes and it was not a problem. Well, good thing the blower is good on leaves too.

The second snake was the size of a long worm. I was pretty sure it was a worm, but hubby got the magnifying glass and it WAS a little snake. Now I have a very powerful “snake” blower taking up garage space. We got a little anole running in once, but we used a much gentler blower to help him find his way out.

We saw a 3-4' snake pop out from under the air conditioner a few months back...

The Boss yelled, "KILL IT!"

I responded, "With what"? :1rotfl:

Don't get sucked into the hype

We bought a house in Ft Lauderdale, on a canal back in '95....sold it in 2017 when we moved up here

in all those years, I only saw one snake...a black garden snake...okay I found a few snake skins , but never saw them

been here since early 2017....haven't seen a snake. Had a 5 foot alligator in my front beds, but no snakes

you buy a house overlooking a swamp, you'll have a snake or two...but if you're smart you won't get bit

IMHO, there's a better chance of getting into an accident on I-75, than finding a snake on your lawn in TV

Spray for ants and bugs.
Get rid of the ants and bugs, you get rid of the anoles.
Get rid of the anoles, you'll get rid of the snakes.

Your Welcome

black racers
 

Black racers are your friend, very harmless to humans, is just looking for something small for lunch.

Are any of the snakes around here poisonous?

Found a snake skin that was shed the other day and got me to wondering.

The cognitive functions of my brain tell me that snakes are an important part of a healthy ecosystem and the likelihood of ever being hurt by even the highly poisonous ones, are extremely minuscule. Every time I see any snake, my old, lizard brain however, screams - KILL IT! LOL

My neighbor had one in her kitchen. I think it might have entered through the bottom of her retractable screen door.
I had a coral snake slither by my legs in my front yard. I was able to get a quick pic and verified ID. Striping was correct sequence and it had a roundish head with a black nose. I read an article that coral snakes don't have hollow viper fangs. There is a groove behind their fangs so they have to chew on you to inject their venom. Not an aggressive snake but very toxic.
The worm like snake mention before was probably a Brahminy Blindsnake, a native of Asia. I had one on my foot after walking thru the grass in Cape Coral. Looks like an earthworm but no segments, moves like a snake and can stick out it’s tongue. They eat termite and ant larvae and eggs. Sometimes found in pots from a nursery. The snake fell off my foot in the house. I assumed it was a worm and then notice it moved like a snake. I relocated her (all are females-parthenogenesis) by my foundation.

Always keep gas in the house and if one get s under the couch you burn that thing to the ground.

I had a small one get in my house and make its was into the toaster. I had to get a new toaster because you don't know where that snakes belly has been.

We saw a (live not flat) snake this morning with silver (IIRC) body with red color bands on it on the MMP on Morse this morning. Wife missed stepping on it by an inch. Never have seen that color snake before. What was it?

Tell them just not to allow their ex-wife (or ex-husband) in.

Pigmy rattlers about as rare as winning Florida lottery around here when The land has been scrapped and burned clean for sardine can housing. Juvenile black racers mimic pigmy racers but the eyes gives them away. All vipers have slant or slit eyes. While non-vipers have round pupils.

I just lock the doors :1rotfl::1rotfl::1rotfl:

Well, my friend thanks you all for your replies. A 3’ racer got in his house today. Slithered around for a while, got it out with a broom.

All is well that ends well.

Just a terminology correction

A venemous snake means you die when it bites you.
A poisonous snake means you die when you bite it.

My dad swears mothballs work

Snakes were here before us humans so we are the invaders. We have had a few Ring snakes. They are the size of a worm and have either an orange or yellow ring around the body just behind the head. The black snakes we have had are Black Racers commonly called rat snakes. They keep rodent populations under control. Unless provoked snakes will try to escape. The two mentioned above are harmless but there are other species around that are poisonous. Other posts have mentioned them already. Better not to attack a snake, that is when you are more likely to be bitten. Safer to get a professional to remove them if you are concerned. Personally I do not like snakes but do love to watch them. One summer the Black Racer was in a bush I was trimming. I had turned away and as I turned back his head was about a foot away from mine. We both retreated quickly. He came out again and allowed me to take his picture. As another post said, snakes are an important part of the ecosystem. I’d rather have them than rats.

own a ferret

Logic
 

That logic will kill us all….

Snakes
 

We had a snake in our house a few months after we moved in. I trimmed bushes the day before w/garage door open. The next day I unloaded groceries from car & left kitchen door open to garage. A couple of days later we saw a snake making its way across our hall floor. We now are attentive about closing all doors leading to the house & garage.

Yes, Pygmy rattlers & cottonmouth. We’ve had none in house 🤞 , but have seen the 1st in a bush on a TV golf course & the 2nd by a pond also in TV. Neither common to see but they are here.

Have also seen 2 nonvenomous snakes. A black racer in our yard & another kind (forget which it was) in a hibiscus I was trimming. We were both startled. We enjoy our anoles so we moved them along with a broom.

Snakes
 

Black Racer snakes kill venomous snakes.

Please don’t use mothballs for anything but their intended use. Breathing in the chemical fumes on a regular basis could be carcinogenic. Not intended for anything but moths in a tightly enclosed space with your woolens.

There’s a product called Snake Away that is very effective. Sold at Lowes.

Without snakes Florida would be over run with rats. I mean you would be stepping on them when you go anywhere, there would be so many of them. Please get it out of your head to kill every snake that you see. They are a very necessary part of nature. They are shy creatures, and don't want any trouble from humans, they just want to live their lives doing pest control. They will only bite if they feel threatened. If you are afraid of them, and see one just go the other way. They really are very beneficial.

Why would you want to do that? Of course you don't want a snake "in your home"! Our neighborhood has a black snake that takes care of rats and other rodents.

Invest in one of those Ring camera-doorbells and don't answer it when they come a-calling.

Snakes will -very rarely ever- try to get into your house. They don't like you. Your carpet and floor aren't crunchy twigs or grass, and you don't have any tasty rodents to eat. If you have a laundry shed outside your house, you might find one in there once in awhile, keeping warm at night. But they don't want to hang out in there and will leave when the sun comes out.

Snakes are an important part of the ecosystem. If you don't want to co-exist with snakes, maybe look into high-rise apartment living instead.

You can’t…close the doors. If they’re really paranoid, tell them to get a cat.

Ortho Snake B Gone works well!

Close your door

Don't leave your patio or garage door open.

I've had two black racers get into my courtyard villa, both were lying against a door (one the front door; one the garage door), and when the door opened, it slithered into the house. Knowing these snakes are harmless, I just put on a couple of oven gloves, picked up the offenders, and put them outside. We used to get many snakes in our grassy courtyard villa yard, but I made a "snake guard", closing up the opening at the bottom of our gate, which seems to be working well. In the two years since I put it in, we have had only one snake in the yard (that we've seen), and that one was not a black racer, and I killed it. Still don't know what it was. It probably climbed a neighbor's planting and dropped into the yard over the wall.

Snakes like the plastic sided houses
 

They like to crawl in to the warmth of the plastic sided houses if they can squeeze in and they do.

Snakes
 

Snakes love to curl up in small less traveled locations
Under bushes trees etc. The water the better
Black snakes are common and eat rodents and bugs

Are you joking? It’s hard to tell sometimes. A toaster definitely gets hot enough to kill any germs a snake might be carrying. Still, that must have been scary.

I understand the fear! I haved lived in Florida for 25 years and had never seen a snake until I moved here. First out of my office window saw a small black snake, my husband said it was harmless although, I was getting ready to move. The second one I saw, another black one in my flower bed but I was at least 10 feet away. Then I came across one that was pecking a black bird's eyes and about 6 or 7 black birds came and attacked the snake, this one had orange markings which terrified me but again, a rat snake once I was calm enough to look it up. I was inside & the snakes were outside the glass of my lanai but I get the fear.