JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – After a week of wetter conditions than the area has seen in a while, many people are seeing snakes much closer than some of them would like.
Just this week in the Bartram Park area, two pictures were taken of a pair of snakes seen right outside people’s homes.
Sean Burgess, who took one of the photos, said a water moccasin showed up on his front porch after the rains on Wednesday.
He said his wife saw another lying just feet from a sidewalk near where children were playing.
“The one we saw was right next to the sidewalk that is across the street from Bartram Springs Elementary School,” Burgess said. “It's definitely well-traveled and easily someone could have stepped off and stepped on the snake.”
Burgess said that living in Florida, he’s used to seeing snakes, and for the most part they don’t bother him. He said he knows where he usually sees them and is looking out for them all the time.
Rain isn’t the only thing forcing snakes into more high-traffic areas. With all of the construction and recent fires in the area, those snakes have nowhere else to go.
“Oftentimes, they have their own agenda. They are hunting or sunning themselves,” said Adam Hoyles, who runs Onsite Environmental Consulting.
Hoyles said for the most part, the snakes in Northeast Florida are great rodent control. He said there are a couple of things that residents can look for to tell if a snake is venomous or not:
- Nonvenomous snakes will have rounded heads.
- Venomous snakes will have more angled, triangle-like heads.
“If you see them on a sidewalk or in a roadway, they are warming up,” Hoyles said. “The best thing you can do is leave them be.”
There are some sprays homeowners can get at hardware stores that can be used to keep snakes away from their homes. Many people also try to put out moth balls to help repel snakes, as well.