Welcome to thevillagessnakes.com! I am David, a snake enthusiast living in The Villages, FL. Many people don't know that The Villages is in fact full of snakes! You just need to know where to find them - they can often be shy and elusive. Some Florida snake species are more common outside of the city limits, in different parts of Sumter County FL, but many types of snakes are indeed common in the more urban parts of The Villages. This guide is meant to help educate you about the beautiful snakes of The Villages, and to help you identify the most common snakes of The Villages, as well as the venomous snakes of The Villages that you should learn to recognize and avoid. If you want more detail, click here for my complete list of ALL snake species in The Villages. Remember the following:
- Most snakes of The Villages are harmless and don't want to encounter you
- Venomous snakes exist but are uncommon in The Villages, Florida
- Snakes eat rats and mice and are a valuable part of the Florida ecosystem
- Never kill a snake - if you leave a snake alone, it will leave you alone.
Common Snake Species in The Villages
![The Villages snake](easterngartersnake.jpg)
![The Villages snake](evergladesratsnake.jpg)
![The Villages snake](brahminyblindsnake.jpg)
Venomous Snake Species in The Villages
![The Villages snake](easterndiamondbackrattlesnake.jpg)
![The Villages snake](watermoccasin.jpg)
If you're unsure, you can email me a photo of the snake at info@thevillagessnakes.com and I will email you back with the snake's species. If you found a snake skin, read my Found a Skin? page, and you can email me a photo of the skin, and I'll identify the snake for you. If you need professional The Villages snake removal help, click my Get Help page, or see the below website sponsor I found, who provides that service.
Do Snakes Lay Eggs Or Give Live Birth?
Some people are unsure of how snakes reproduce. Without personal knowledge of snakes or experience with them, this is understandable. Others, though, may think all snakes go one way or the other with reproduction. Since imagery of snakes laying and protecting eggs is most common, most assume that snakes are egg-laying animals. However, that is not always the case. Snakes can, and typically do, lay eggs, but not all will. Some snakes give live births. Whether a snake does one or the other oftentimes depends on where it lives. Snakes have evolved to give birth based on their climate to ensure they can reproduce.
Snake Birth
Egg-laying snakes are the most common. About 70% of snakes lay eggs, and the rest give live birth. This is why most people associate snakes with laying eggs. They are the most common type of snake and they are what most people see. Whether a snake lays eggs or gives live birth depends on where it lives. Snakes in warmer climates lay eggs, whereas the snakes in cooler climates are going to give live birth. The reason for this is simple – warmth. Eggs require warmth to develop and hatch. Eggs cannot provide the necessary warmth to the eggs themselves, so they rely on their environment for that. In warm environments, like the southern United States and much of South America, this is not a problem. They have plenty of areas where they can lay eggs and let them incubate. For snakes in cool environments, there is no way for them to provide warmth to their eggs. If they were to lay eggs, the eggs would not develop and the snakes would not be able to reproduce. They have evolved to reproduce through live birth, giving birth to young directly like most mammals do.
Survival
Both give birth these ways as a means of survival. This allows them to reproduce and continue living, as a species, better than they could otherwise. Due to the differences in climate, their births are what fit them best.
Snake births depend entirely on where the snakes are. If you are curious about whether a specific type of snake will give a live birth or lay eggs, consider where the snake comes from. How it will give birth depends entirely on whether it typically lives in cool or warm climates. Whether Europe or South America, it remains the same everywhere.
Remember, the term is not poisonous snakes of The Villages, it's venomous snakes of The Villages. Poison is generally something you eat, and venom is injected into you. That said, dangerous snakes are very rare in The Villages. The few venomous snakes of Sumter County are rarely seen. But they are commonly misidentified, so learn about all the snake species of The Villages in order to correctly identify them. These snakes are usually also found in the surrounding towns of Leesburg, Tavares, Mount Dora, Belleview, Summerfield, Ocklawaha, Oxford, Lady Lake, Fruitland Park, Oxford, Wildwood, Adamsville, Coleman, Okahumpka, and the surrounding areas.
Read our article about:
Southern Hognose Snake
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