If you’ve never held one, I highly recommend it to those who can muster the courage. In fact, their scales are very dry and clean, composed of neatly joined scales which repel water. Non-venomous snake species come in many sizes and colors and are found in most of Florida’s different habitats from the mangrove swamps to dry scrub to the backyard.Īnother misconception is that snakes are slimy. MORE Gardening: Are the weeds invading your turf?ĪND Six months later: Marco, Goodland, Capri have largely recovered after IanĪLSO Collier leaders set aside $30M for veterans nursing home in Golden Gate For the garden this is a great snake as its diet includes slugs and snails. It is black or dark grey with an orange or yellow ring around its neck and an orange belly. This is a tiny snake usually 8 to 12 inches long. The black racer preys on rats, mice, frogs, toads and lizards. Some other common non-venomous species on Marco Island include the Southern Black Racer which is jet black with a white chin and can grow to be 6 feet in length. Because of its coloring and markings my concern is that people will kill them thinking they are pythons. This snake feeds almost exclusively on rats and mice. Its color patterns can vary considerably from yellow, orange, red or brown and grey. This is also a large snake which can reach 6 feet in length. Snakes are usually more afraid of you than you are of them and will retreat when encountering people.Ī beneficial snake often mistaken for a coral snake, due to its red and yellow coloring, is the gentle rat or corn snake. I’ll take a snake in the yard over a rat in the attic any day. The rats on the other hand like nothing better than a nice warm attic to call home. Snakes rarely enter into a home and only by mistake when they do. We are experiencing an increase in our rat population because we are destroying this valuable natural predator of rats. Now it is very rare to see one at three or four feet and even the babies are hard to find. Here, we used to have a good population of six-foot black snakes and rat snakes. They have been so feared and mistreated that their populations are severely diminished in Florida and around the world. The fact is that most snakes are beneficial and fascinating creatures. This means the venomous snakes are relatively rare in yards on Southwest Florida. MORE Gardening: Long term effects of cold on your gardenĪND Now You Know: ‘Home Garden Tour,’ free children’s art programĪLSO Resilient: SWFL's tourism industry shows strength and spirit An old jingle which helps differentiate the coral snake from the non-poisonous scarlet snake is “red and yellow kill a fellow.” If the red rings touch the yellow, beware! The poisonous coral snake is an exception. Vipers have vertical slits while non-poisonous snakes have round eyes. One way to tell venomous vipers from non-venomous snakes are the eyes. These are the eastern diamondback rattlesnake, pigmy rattlesnake, canebrake rattlesnake, copperhead, cottonmouth/water moccasin and the coral snake. Florida has 44 species of snakes (only six of which are venomous). The pythons are unlikely to attack a person unless provoked or protecting young. In actuality there is less than one death a year from snake-bite in Florida. The majority of snakes, including the constrictors, are not poisonous yet people fear most of them as if they were. One should never plant a plant or release an animal if you don’t know the consequences to the environment. Invasive species, plant or animal, are considered the number one environmental threat to the United States. Category five Hurricane Andrew has also been blamed for the release of exotics into the Everglades including the constrictors. This is true of all of these giant snakes as well as a lot of other exotic animals, fish, etcetera. Proving to be more than the breeders could handle, they may have released them into the wild. But the find included a pregnant female and two young. The Burmese python species, recently discovered on and all-around Marco Island, the boa constrictor and the African rock pythons described as 20-feet long, ill tempered, mean, and vicious.įortunately for us, the rock pythons have mostly been found in the area of Miami. According to National Geographic News, Florida has unfortunately developed an established population of three large, alien constrictors or snakes. Snakes and alligators are two of the most feared species we live with on the edge of the Everglades.
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