Florida Snakes

This website is about the snakes you can find in Florida. Some of the snakes (only six) are venomous while the rest are harmless. I've chosen only to cover species endemic to Florida even though other species occasionally are dumped into the wilderness when pet owners can't handle them anymore.

Introduction

Snakes are predators feeding on variety of smaller animals such as rodents, frogs, insects, birds and other reptiles. They of course also eat eggs of other species and sometimes even their own eggs.

Some snakes kills their prey before eating it and some don't. If a snake kills its prey before eating it, it's either done with
venom or by constriction.

Snakes play an important role in many ecosystems controlling the population size of other animals. That's good for the ecosystem and good to you in cases where snakes keep populations of especially rats and mice at low levels. You can be sure, that if you see a lot of snakes around the area you live there are a lot of prey for the snakes to catch in your neighborhood.

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Florida's most common snakes

The snake most familiar to people in Florida is perhaps the Black Racer - a small non-venomous snake that overcomes it prey with its sharp teeth. The Black usually swallows it prey while still alive.

More videos of snakes found in Florida can be watched in the video section.

Don't try to catch a snake if you are not an expert. Some of the snakes found in Florida are able to cause severe damage to you.

Evolution of snakes (a short introduction)

Snakes are legless reptiles closely related to lizards . The evolutionary history of snakes is not very well known since the historical record based on fossils is very poor due to the delicate nature of snake skeletons.
The ancestors of snakes are amphibians. Some amphibians developed the ability to lay shelled eggs, like snakes, so they didn't have to return to the water for reproduction. At this point in history the snake wasn't developed; at this point the prehistoric "snake" was more like an ancient reptile.

Reptiles developed into three distinct groups which can be distinguished by their skull structure. One of these groups evolved into dinosaurs and lizards. Later on the group of lizards diversified into more groups. One of these were the snakes and the day to day snakes carry reminiscent of their past by having diminutive legs in their skeletons.

Short Descriptions

Further descriptions can be found in appropriate sections of this website. Here is however some short introductions to each of the most venomous Florida snake species:

Cottonmouth Snakes

The Cottonmouth Snake or Water Moccasin is found throughout Florida. It's actually also called the Florida Cottonmouth. It is highly venomous and a bite can cause severe damage. This snake is most often mistaken with the Water Snake. A lot of Watersnakes are killed on the suspicion of being Cottonmouths.

Copperhead Snakes

In the Northern part of Florida, in the panhandle, there's plenty of Copperhead Snakes. They live in swampy areas near rivers but may also migrate to other places, where the availability of prey is better. See the section about Copperhead Snakes in the navigation menu.

Coral Snakes

Coral Snakes are one of the highly venomous snakes of Florida. Its venom is much more venomous than needed to put an end to its prey. It's nocturnal and seldom seen by humans. It poses a potential threat to children that might pick it up to show it to their parents or siblings.

Scarlet Snakes

Scarlets are small constrictors resembling Coral Snakes in many ways. The biggest difference is though that Scarlet Snakes are not venomous. Scarlet Snakes are very rare so don't go searching for them.

Diamondback Rattlesnakes

This is one of the largest venomous snakes in the world. Adult males sometimes reaches a length of 8 feet. Because it is rather common and distributed widely across the US the diamondback rattlesnake is probably the snake that accounts for most fatal snake bites in the US.

The prefer rodents or any other animals that can be swallowed.

Life Cycle of Snakes

Some snakes lay eggs others don't. All female snakes does however have eggs in their bodies that either hatches inside them before their offspring is actually born.

It doesn't really make a big difference. Rattlesnakes for instance give live birth while Cottonmouths lay eggs. The mating season for all snakes is in the spring. Young snakes are born from August until the end of October. Some of the snakes found in nature of Florida look after their offspring for a period and others don’t. Looking after ones offspring is quite an advanced trait. The longer the period the more advanced the species is a general rule of thumb.

The size of the litter varies as well. 3 to 12 snakes per litter is the usual deal with Cottonmouths while Rattlesnakes have litter sizes of 8-12. Litter size depends on prey availability and the well being of the mother.

Rattlesnakes look after their offspring for up to two weeks. Most other snakes let the offspring take care of themselves right after hatching.

Other resources

Venomous Snakes of Florida
Online guide to the snakes of Florida
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission

Vocabulary

Endemic - means native to or in a broader sense - belonging to