I grew up in Virginia and lived in the sticks of NC and I never had the wildlife problem I have now. When we moved here I thought it was a great deal to have found a house on a nature preserve. Little did I know every damn animal in the state lived there? I have a herd of deer (if that’s correct) that eat every thing planted. At least 2 armadillos are tearing up my grass every night!!! I see a fox about every week (I think it’s the same one). More scorpions than I care to mention, although they only sting like a wasp if one gets you :). We have tons of opossum that will get into anything.

Lets see, oh and the snakes, I have to deal with about 6-7 a year and only 2 cottonmouths last year. Unfortunately both of them were in my garage (RIP). The rest were 6 foot black racers that can run faster than me and are ultra aggressive and don’t like me mowing the yard when they are sunbathing!!! It’s a freakin zoo here!!!

BUT………where your going, I seriously doubt you will run into any of that.

Here is some of what I deal with

Cottonmouth in my garage
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1233889202.jpg

Big a$$ lizard in my garage - its hard to tell the scale but its in a 5 gal bucket. (remember the pooping lizard thread)
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1233889300.jpg

Some dear in broad daylight
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1233889341.jpg

This guy is my friend - he helps with the smaller stuff
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1233889384.jpg

They maybe locals now but at one time they were from Canada.;)

Big Snakes they will give you good practice for when the Zombies come.:D

Spent a bunch of time in Florida as a kid I loved all the critters I ran across even the snakes however they did not weigh 156 Lbs. Yikes !

Ill trade the Grizzlies Bear's here for your snakes !

Gators are fine except in mating season. I kayak and see gators all the time. They dislike us more than we dislike them. What's stupid is the people that will feed them off the docks and such. Then they lose their fear of humans. They love to eat dogs.

The biggest one I have seen was close to 14 feet long. Once they get above 10 feet, they look absolutely pre-historic - their heads get Huge.

<embed src="http://www.metacafe.com/fplayer/1245652/big_freekin_gator.swf" width="400" height="345" wmode="transparent" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullScreen="true"> </embed><br><font size = 1><a href="http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1245652/big_freekin_gator/">Big Freekin Gator!</a> - <a href="http://www.metacafe.com/">Click here for this week’s top video clips</a></font>

A girlfriend of many moons ago lost her dad to a gator in/near Arcadia, FL. Admittedly, he was doing something stupid: swimming in a canal. It hit him within seconds after he jumped in... he got away and got out, one arm barely attached by a few ligaments.

His 13-yr. old daughter who was with him was pressed into service to drive him to the hospital. The doctors couldn't save the arm and had to amputate, but he died within 24 hrs. when the site of the injury threw a clot and it went to his heart.

2 years in Miami, and I only saw a few snakes once...after a hurricane when the entire city was 3 feet underwater. Never saw one other than that.

Gators? Hourly, if you're driving around. Sometimes several within 5 minutes. But no snakes.

Ben,
You and your family will love Captiva, beautiful place!

I saw about a 10' gator last week on the side of the road. They can be freaky to see something that look so big, ugly and alive just sitting out in the open.

I don't think black racers are dangerous except to other snakes. They pretend to be aggressive by charging at you when they feel threatened but supposedly that's a defensive measure rather than an offensive move. If you stand your ground they would probably stop.

Of course, this is very easy for me to sit in the comfy chair and type "probably" on the keyboard. You're the one who has the pissed off snake running at you! :D

When I lived in Jax, all of our apt's unfenced holding ponds had 5-6 foot gators lounging around, and I've seen quite a few while bass fishing in the lower St. John's and surrounding lakes. But NOTHING compares to what a buddy and I saw when we rented a boat and went out in the Okefenokee Swamp many years ago. Gators literally by the hundreds out lounging around, sunning themselves and waiting for a snack :)...

Your lizard is a skink. When I lived there in Pinellas county, it seemed everything was trying to kill you. Sharks in the gulf, gators and coyotes everywhere. I came on upon a 12 gator one night that had been hit by a car crossing the road. Out of curiosity and stupidity, I pulled up next to him. Now I was driving a Jag XJS at the time and I swear he was as long as the car. Man that was one pissed and very big lizard, it was like a dinosaur. Living here in PA now, the most vicious thing we have here on my land is a black bear, and he is pretty timid.

I drive across Alligator Alley several times per year. If you have driven it, you know that it is exceedingly boring with only one bend in the road . . .

As entertainment, I count the gators in the canals as I drive by. My current record is 25 on one drive from Naples to Lauderdale last year. The light - late afternoon - was just right.

Ian

Sounds really cool except for the venomous snakes and scorpions. I think that's a "skink".

I forgot about that part of my trip through the Okefenokee. We were returning home and I had a new '87 Supra Turbo that was just nicely broken in. Targa top off, a LONG stretch of blacktop through the swamp, total desolation, then an impromptu "let's see what she'll do". I had her up to 140 mph (still 1000 rpms below redline) and then the thought of a gator sunning in the middle of the road brought me to my senses and I backed off. Young and dumb...but I'm still here :)

I probably don't need to tell you this, but black bears are not to be taken lightly... they are just as dangerous as Grizzlies.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fatal_bear_attacks_in_North_America_by_dec ade

Get used to it Ben, Wisconsin is going to be the new Florida in the next 10 years

Black racers are the most aggressive snake I have ever come across. I'm not scared of most snakes but the black racers I will give a wide berth.

I had a 6ft one across the street at a neighbors porch. It literally chased me across the street lunging at me as it went. I screamed like a little girl.

Last year we went to cape san blas Which is buetiful(stayed in a house right on the beach) but this year sanabil . I was just wondering if it was full of snakes as this is my least favorite animal and did not want to spend my whole time worrying about the kids getting bit

I keep a shotgun by the door. My dogs are either fearless or stupid so I'm sure I will have to rescue them someday.

I just had a vision of that.....pretty funny stuff. Anybody get that on tape?