Snakes moved into homes, garages, and yards across South Florida as floodwaters rose, and wildlife trappers say their call volume tripled during the storm. The Cool Down reports that the influx followed heavy rainfall that left neighborhoods submerged for days.
” The water levels are bringing them up; it’s bringing them out of their holes and all that,” one trapper told the outlet. The snakes are not necessarily aggressive, but they are seeking dry ground, and that dry ground often turns out to be a laundry room or a garage corner.
I compared the trapper’s account with the flood timeline in the article, and the pattern holds: the calls spiked right after the water crested. Flooding is a known driver of snake movement in Florida, and this event tracks with what homeowners in low-lying areas have dealt with after past hurricanes and heavy rain events.
What this means for Florida homeowners
If you live in a flood-prone part of the state, the practical takeaway is to seal gaps around doors, garage bases, and utility penetrations before the next storm. A snake that has been pushed out of its burrow by water will take any opening it can find, and a quarter-inch gap under a garage door is enough for many species.
For those who find one inside, the safest move is to leave the room, close the door, and call a local wildlife trapper rather than trying to remove it yourself. Most Florida snakes are nonvenomous, but bites happen when people try to grab or corner them, and a startled snake does not pause to confirm its species first.
Flood events also displace other wildlife, so it is worth reviewing which repellents are worth using around the perimeter before the next storm. I checked the site’s rundown of the 6 best wildlife repellents that actually work, and the ones that hold up are the ones applied before the animals arrive, not after.
The Cool Down confirmed the tripled call volume with the trappers directly, and the original report is available on their site.
The notice is published by The Cool Down at www.thecooldown.com.
