[jtdraig]

There are rattlesnakes here..pygmy rattlers for one...and certainly cottonmouths..I personally had an encounter with one on the 2nd hole of Heron last summer..and he was a big mother. I chipped up onto the green and went to remove what I thought was some kind of vegetaton when it moved....we played though.

[uujudy]

OH NO! That is NOT the answer I wanted to hear!
I wanted to hear that there are NO venomous snakes anywhere near the Villages.... The developers don't allow them, there's a law against them, the sheriff's office actively persues reports of snakes.... LOL :yikes:

Tal, thanks for the links... I think. :
This is probably WAY more information than I need.

The way I understand this is..
Any snake with a pattern, run like crazy in the other direction
Any black snakes, try to get them to open their mouths so you can see if it's white?
I'll stick to the sidewalks, the town centers, and the golf cart paths. Those all-concrete villas are looking pretty good to me! ;D

[graciegirl]

Originally Posted by bestmickey

As I've noted in previous posts, I hatehatehate and fearfearfear snakes Big Time! What concerns me is that in other posts on TOTV, many Villages' residents have stated they have "small black snakes" on their premises. I just viewed a website which describes Florida's venomous snakes, and the adult Cottonmouth is a "small black snake". While there are non-venemous "small black snakes", I don't plan to get close enough to any snake to be able to determine the difference. All I can now say is YIKES! :yikes: :yikes: :yikes: :yikes: :yikes:

Ditto, Ditto, Ditto. OH yes Ditto. The only good snake is a dead snake. Like the line from Fiddler on the Roof, AND KEEP HIM FAR AWAY FROM ME!

[bsliny]

Snakes are very dangerous but you have to realize we have them in every state
THERE CALLED POLITICIANS

[pwdasher]

Be careful on the cement too, snakes like the sun as much as we do, and in south Georgia, we have killed more then a few moccasins, sunning on our patio and a pigmy rattler, climbing the brick wall at the back door. Just watch where you step..always.

[chelsea24]

We've lived here 7 months and have not seen a snake yet. Thank God! We did take out all the pine needles and put in beautiful landscaping with polished Carolina stone. The one thing I'm afraid of even more than snakes is that Brown Recluse Spider. Now, our landscaper did say those spiders do hide under those pine needles. The Brown Recluse Spider is very deadly or so I've heard. :yikes:

[gonzy]

I had to kill one today he set up housekeeping underneath the lanai door I shooed him away yesterday but I guess he didn't take the hint. Had one get in the garage last year guess he was looking for a warmer spot. The wife goes into histerics if she sees a gecko that would have given her a cardiac had she seen the one in the garage. These were all small grass snakes fortunately haven't had any run ins with the big guys.

[punkpup]

I can't even watch "Snakes on a plane" much less see them in a zoo!!!! Oh yeah, forgot, I don't like zoos anyway, I haven't been to one since I was 5 so no danger there. I get squiffy seeing snakes in print and on web sites; thanx Tal. I'm a SCUBA diver and almost drowned myself when I had a close encounter with a big fat green Moray Eel; well that is a bit of exaggeration.... I just screamed into my regulator and bit down on it so hard I had to by a new mouthpiece before the next dive because I practically bit clean through the old one. A humiliating experience and I'm glad no one but Victoria saw me... it would have done serious damage to my image as a "Gorilla" diver. Truth be known she did the same thing lol.

Snakes and Brown Recluse spiders in the pine needles?!??!?!?!?!?!?! :yikes: :yikes: :yikes: :yikes: :yikes: I was stomping around in the pine needles when we were down in April looking at property! OMG I feel faint!

Oh yeah I forgot, some of our friends who have dogs say that the pine needles harbor Ticks! YUCK!!

As if Ophidiophobia isn't bad enough now I can obsess about parasites too.

[KathieI]

Originally Posted by chelsea24

We've lived here 7 months and have not seen a snake yet. Thank God! We did take out all the pine needles and put in beautiful landscaping with polished Carolina stone. The one thing I'm afraid of even more than snakes is that Brown Recluse Spider. Now, our landscaper did say those spiders do hide under those pine needles. The Brown Recluse Spider is very deadly or so I've heard. :yikes:

Sorry Judy, I saw one on my last visit. It was in the lanai, I think I screamed so loud the neighbors thought I was being murdered and the poor little thing, I scared it half to death. I found the name from Tal's link.

Virginia valeriae valeriae: Eastern Earth Snake

Description: Adults average 7-13 inches. A small brown or reddish brown snake with a plain white or yellowish belly. who's gonna look under his belly???
May have tiny dark flecks on back, either scattered or in 4 rows. The head is small with a somewhat pointed snout. There are 15 dorsal scale rows at midbody. The pupils are round.
you must be kidding, look at his pupils?? :yikes:

Yes, Chels, the brown recluse spider is very dangerous. Don't know how deadly but it makes you quite sick. We have them here in LA and many people have become severely ill from them.

Are there black widows in TV? We have them here also. I hate them so much, yewwww!

[another Linda]

So, what I want to know is do citrus trees attract snakes? My son-in-law, a native Floridian, swears they do. And could a snake really get into a courtyard surrounded by a stucco wall? I so desperately want an orange tree, but I'm afraid.

[chelsea24]

Yes Kathie, my landscapper said there were Black Widows too. They also can make you ill, but not as bad as that Brown Recluse Spider. No pine needles for me!

[nONIE]

Another Linda,

My daughter has 35 citrus trees in her back yard. In the 8 years she has lived there, we have never seen a snake in any of them. Hope this helps.

[Sidney Lanier]

The first time we met the woman who mows our lawn, she warned us, with a shudder, that there's a snake living under a concrete pad behind our house that comes out to sun itself periodically. We've never seen it. She's terrified of snakes, so there was no point in asking her if she had made the snake's acquaintance long enough to find out if it's poisonous. Frankly I doubt it, but I did mention to her that we both like snakes not only for the creatures that they are but for keeping down the rodent population (that we've never seen either, maybe because of the snakes...). She seemed horrified that anyone could LIKE snakes, but to us the idea of killing them arbitrarily simply because they are snakes is distressing....

[nONIE]

Sidney,

My hubs feels very much like you do regarding snakes. He said they are a part of nature that do quite a bit of good on this earth. He is slowly swaying me over to his way of thinking.

However in the past, I was totally creeped out by anything that didnt have legs and didnt blink its eyes,but I am trying to accept them for the creatures that they are.

My 5 year old grandson has a pet snake that he plays with and handles like a kitten, Its hard for me to show no reaction when he plays with it. :yikes:

[KathieI]

Originally Posted by Sidney Lanier

..... but to us the idea of killing them arbitrarily simply because they are snakes is distressing....

Sidney, as much as I hate them, I feel the same way. I felt so sorry for the poor little thing being stuck in the lanai with a screaming crazy lady (meee!) but thankfully, he found his way out. I couldn't do anything to it, no way. I even pick up small spiders in my house on a piece of paper, and put them outside where the doggies can't get them. I think I'm getting like Nonie more every day, gee I hope so....