Floridians...Have you seen snakes or maybe gators in your yards or even maybe...

[*Fantasia*]

...in your porch or in the house/apartments??

How often have you seen them in your yard? How do you make it go away? Or do you call the local community and have them handle this? Or probably there is no such thing. Or was that question a stupid question? I mean what if there was an alligator and just ligering there for some days now or maybe a snake? I am just curious...cause I am soon to be a Floridian. I want to mentally prepare myself for this kinds of things...

Thunderstorms/Lighting is another issue of mine...but that would be seperate thread. I am too crazy to even move to Florida if I am that terrified of lightning. I still think Florida is a nice place to live.

Thanks for any infos...

Telly

 

[Pin Wizard]

Hi, Telly!

I once had a snake in the garage behind the washer. Partly behind, partly exposed. My advice is that unless you have screening, don't leave anything open. I used to leave the garage door open and open up the door to the kitchen to let the cooler air in. That's how my neighbor figured it got in the garage. Needless to say, I never did that again! And I didn't have a problem again. Believe me, I kept checking! I went down the street and got a friend to get it out. LOL! I had a fence around the yard so never had a problem with a gator from the lake. But the turtles used to crawl under it! LOL! We would have fun chasing them back under.

 

[kadaten]

Local authorities will remove gators, I believe, but you only have that problem if you're in a neighborhood near/on water. We never had one or heard of anyone near us having one in JAX, but a friend in Ft. Lauderdale did, but she lived on a canal, so it was to be expected. I also think they're worse in Central and South Florida than in North Florida...

Disney has gators, too, and will remove them to an unpopulated area when they get within 6 feet or so of people.

Best rule of thumb...don't bother them and they won't bother you. But if you're near the water, I wouldn't leave your pets outside unattended.

As for lightning....I don't like it either, but we've lived in FL twice and will hopefully be returning next summer If it's not storms/hurricanes in FL then it's tornadoes in the Mid-West or earthquakes in California...everywhere has bad weather, it's just different sorts! And lightning strikes to people (my fear) are very rare...I have to keep reminding myself of that

Good luck on your decision to move!

 

[LadyAurora]

We live in a new subdivision...so no snakes, gators, or anything larger than a lizard. And there are very few of them! A lot of toads in the rainy season, though! And the birds are gradually finding my feeder.

 

[Miss Jasmine]

We had a snake in our garage and on our ENCLOSED patio. They can squish themselves down pretty small and get through the tiniest of spaces.

No Gators in my yard, but I don't live on a lake and I don't have a pool.

 

[floridafam]

I was a little scared when we moved to Florida because I thought we would have a hard time controlling bugs.

We never saw a gator in our yard. You might if you live near a body of water. You just have to be careful and I'm sure there is a certain number you call to have someone come out and remove it.

We never had trouble with snakes.

I hated the lizards when we first move there and loved them by the time we moved back up to Michigan. They are harmless and actually pretty cute. Plus, they eat a lot of bugs!

Just make sure you have a good pest control system in place. The locals will tell you how often you need to have someone come out. If you are going to be in an apartment or something they will probably have regularly scheduled times when the pest people come out.

Don't worry too much.

 

[DCLuvinit]

I also found a snake in my garage - and I keep the door closed all the time. Fortunately it was close to the garage door and when I hit the button to open it he went right out! Most snakes here are harmless though and try just as hard to stay away from people. We also had a snapping turtle get in to our fenced in yard, and didn't realize it was back there until our poor curious dog came inside with a bite on her nose from getting too close

 

[two4ruff]

While visiting Florida, a little lizard went up my husband's pants - does that count??

(who says white men can't dance )

 

[Gwene65]

Before I moved here, I would come out every Summer and stay at my grandmas house. She had a canal in her backyard and every Summer, this one gator came to vacation.
He was never there after the rainy season but showed up every Summer, maybe 2 weeks before we got there. My grandma never did anything about it, just left it alone.

Now that I'm older and have my own place....we have property way out in nowhere and I see snakes every time I go out there. I don't think any of them are poisenous but we kill them just the same. My mom is deathly afraid of snakes so we have to kill them. Otherwise I think I would let them be. Unless they were poisenous.

We now have a huge lake on our property and Summer is coming, so I'm waiting for all the water moccosians and gators. I hope they stay away!!!

 

[*Fantasia*]

Thank you guys for sharing your experiences and infos. We are going to live in an apartment. I tell the leasing consultants that I want the 2nd floor or the 3rd floor. You don't think the gators and the snakes would hike up just to be up there, would they? Really I am serious!! I told them why I want to be in the higher floor. They laughed, but they know I am serious. I told them before they move to the 2nd floor, they would probably be willing to travel first on the 1st floor (ground level).

Ok...there's small lake or large pond if you want to call it, they do have that at the apartment complexes. So I would assume that the possibility of seeing the gators is definitely possible? I guess.
I wish the pest control people will also spray the outside too so those pesty insects and bugs and other critters will go away.

Anymore infos? Would love to hear more! Thank you guys!!

Telly

 

[mbb]

Originally posted by two4ruff
While visiting Florida, a little lizard went up my husband's pants - does that count??

(who says white men can't dance )

LOL!!

 

[minniepumpernickel]

Lol, I had to laugh at your post! I've never lived in FL, but when I lived in North Carolina it was full of snakes. I gave up walking in the woods there.

To be honest I went on a bike-athon this weekend in PA, and we came across several black snakes on the trail. So maybe they are everywhere. I don't know, but I don't like them either.

 

[Talking Hands]

When I lived in my condo before we got this house I was on the second floor and we never had any critters up there.
Now I have seen a few snakes in my yard at times but just leave them alone. Had an awesome box turtle in there for a while but we moved him to a local park nearby when he got bigger. An endangered species.

 

[DSNY FN]

Hey it could be your pet if you start to feed the gator just give him some leftover chicken and such he will stay forever. I love looking for gators along the roadways etc when we visit florida I was even able to get about 25 feet from a 5.5 footer on Merit Island it was awesome.

 

[CruiserDew37]

I dont live anywhere near florida, but i do remember one story of when my Aunt was trying to sell her house (she lives in West Palm Beach) there were people checking out the house and out of the lake comes an alligator crawling in the backyard.

They didnt sell the house to any of the people there that day

 

[julie_yet]

I've lived down the street from a lake my whole life and I've only seen gators a few times. And even then they were floating in the middle just barely sticking out of the water. I have encountered a gator on land once and that was while I was walking around a lake with some friends. It was sitting right next to the sidewalk and we didn't see it until the last minute because it was dark outside. It was fairly big (about 5 or 6 feet long) but it didn't move at all.

Since I live in the city we don't get a lot of snakes in my neighborhood but I've seen a few where my grandma lives out in the boonies.

The things that might bother you more are the bugs and lizards (if you happen to dislike them already). I see plenty of those. But I like lizards since they eat the bugs so they're cool with me. There's actually a cute little gecko that lives in our kitchen. We don't bother him and he doesn't bother us.

 

[*Fantasia*]

Oh...yeah..them lizards...I hate them! I don't know how in the heck I was able to live with the house lizards back in the Philippines (lived there for 10 yrs) Yes...house lizards as in "they live in the house." They don't crawl on the floor, they are mostly on the walls and ceilings. Hate them! UGH!

But I notice that the lizards here in Florida likes to be on the ground. They like to be in the grass or something cause they always startle me whenever they pop from nowhere from the grass. I guess stepping on the grass is not a great idea. Why on earth would they want to be on the ground...they could get stepped on.

We were checking out this apartment and at the sidewalk where we were walking on...we saw 3 lizards...Ay yay yay...I just started stopping my feet so they will move away. And everytime the kids see those lizards they call out..."Mom..Mom...another lizard...take a look at it!" And I say..."I don't want to!" "Look Mom...just take a look at it!" And I say..."No way!" The leasing lady just started laughing. She knows we are definitely not from the south.

 

[ilovepcot]

Oh hun, you're gonna be in for the time of your life!!! I regret that I can't be there to see it all! You probably don't recall this, but on one of your previous threads, I had posted that Christmas day there was a snake on my deck. Don't really think you have much to worry about in an apartment complex.....too many people coming and going along with cars, etc. Will be very anxious to hear how you view Florida after becoming a "for real" Floridian. Be watching for further posts!

 

[*Fantasia*]

Oh yea...I'm in for a real treat! Gotta love them bugs and snakes and everything else that are pesky...YEA RIGHT! I know too bad you won't be there to see my be screaming or jumping and just totally freaking out ...wait..wait..you live in Florida...maybe you can help me get rid of them pesky creatures! That's what DIS Family is for..right?! Pal...Buddy!!

I wanna be a "for real" Floridian already! I better get used to this fast! Like I said...I am already trying to condition my mind that these creatures will be there nearby me.

Oh yeah...I gotta have those lanai or solarium...I can't have an open balcony!

 

[floridaminnie]

I have stepped on a snake not once, but twice while living here in Florida. Not a good feeling first thing in the morning!