I would also watch out for coyotes that roam around The Villages. Be careful with leaving your pets unattended.

I have seen snakes 4 times since we have moved here. The one that scared me the most was I had taken my dogs for a walk. I returned home and there was a very large black snake by my front door. I was never so happy to have a keypad to open my garage door.

In September my neighbor accidentally walked into his villa backyard when a bobcat was in a tree and was jumping down. The cat was suddenly cornered and my neighbor didn't know what to do but stand there, he said the it climbed the wall in split second. I'm in a fairly populated area near Southern Star Executive and I see small black snakes from time to time and just last week a huge hawk was sitting on my bird bath. I'll find dead doves in my back yard about twice a year, really just a pile of feathers. Then one time I found out why, it was the hawk ripping a dove apart until nothing was left. I wouldn't let a small dog out in a CYV without close supervision. Here's a photo from Village News of a bobcat on top of a villa wall in the Village of Hillsborough. It's good that you asked for advice before going ahead with our plan.

https://scontent-mia3-1.xx.fbcdn.net...45&oe=5E803DE6

That hawk was probably Cooper’s hawk? I had one do the same thing. I suspect he was looking for lizards 🦎 or birds 🐦 to ambush.

Black snakes are you’re friends, why you probably don’t see palm rats or mice around.

In the 2-1/2 years that we lived here, on the water, the only snake I ever saw was in the Lake Sumter Landing parking lot. We have lots of hawks, owls, herons, alligators, etc. and I guess they take care of the snakes mother natures way. I have also never seen a rat or mouse since living here. We used to have outdoor cats walk along the water's edge, they were usually gone within a couple weeks, same with rabbits, here today and gone tomorrow. Two things I'm glad we don't have besides the snakes are Canada Geese, they make a huge mess and never leave, and chipmunks, fought those little creatures for years and never won a battle.

Coyotes cant get in a walled villa, can they?

I plan to have books and crannies where my cat can hide. This is an amazing shot

Palm Rats
 

[QUOTE=Topspinmo;1703042]Black snakes are you’re friends, why you probably don’t see palm rats or mice around.[/QU
We are having a problem with Palm Rats eating the screening in our bird cage. My husband put down traps and caught 2. Have not seen any new damage.

I just did a search and found this post from 2015

Topic: Coyote tore out our lanai screen, took cat

Canada Gees
 

The Canada Geese are here. I have seen them on 2 golf courses.

Snakes were a big issue for us when we were trying to decide whether or not to move to The Villages. We have two Black Snakes, Sammy & Pat who patrol several yards around us. They don't want anything to do with you and take off like a shot if you mistakenly come upon them while they are looking for a small snack. I don't believe these black Racers would have any interest in hurting a cat.

If I owned a Cat there is no chance it would be outside on its own. It just doesn't seem like a good idea to me. Good Luck, I hope you got the info you needed throughout this thread.

GE offered to send me a Bag O' Snakes as a joke and I have a real fear of Snakes but not like before. More realistic now. They just wanna do their thing and I wanna let them do it!

And in some areas there are the eagle families. They, too, are predators. If the cat gets out, there are the fox, coyotes and raccoons as well.

Several coyotes have been spotted carrying ladders around TV.:icon_wink:

I agree!! We never even let our dogs stay out in the yard alone.... we still don't. I'm even nervous to leave our jack russell out in the birdcage alone. There's a large pond in our backyard and there's a lot of birds. Hawks, bald eagles (that I used to like...), herons, owls, nice to look at but they can do harm.