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This is a wonderful board with lots of good info so I hope someone can help me.
My husband and I are visiting in mid-October to scout out retirement locations. I have an adventurous spirit, but by no means am I an adventurer. I mean, hiking through the jungle and encountering fauna (especially the slithery kind) are not for me. I have a morbid fear of snakes and if I ran into one in a yard, let alone the jungle, my husband would become an instant widower. No exaggeration!
I know the beauty of CR comes from its countryside and eco-friendly make-up, but honestly, as this trip nears, and unless someone who lives there can tell me I’m just neurotic about something that probably won’t happen, I don’t want to go. We would like to live near the Pacific, away from the tourist areas of course since we want to live inexpensively and truly enjoy and partake of the country’s culture and people. I’m just so apprehensive about this reptile thing and can’t help but think CR is too wild for me. Any thoughts?
I have taken photographs of a snake here on ONE occasion in over 8 years and I walk in places where the majority of people don’t walk so the probability of you coming across a snake is small.
You might want to remember that we ‘humans’ slaughter MILLIONS of creatures a year so we are INFINITELY more dangerous to them than they are to us…
Have a great trip, relax and enjoy yourself and don’t forget your waterproofs… It is WET!
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.comWell to be honest with you— Nature is there. Snakes, bugs etc., And you have to accept it and just be cautious. I live in the country, Guanacaste and as I have walked down on my property I have enountered snakes. I also have toucans, and parrots and monkeys. So it’s the good with the bad. You just have to know THEY ARE THERE…
Where are you living now where there are no snakes? Unless it is Jupiter or Mars, I guarantee you there are snakes in your vicinity. I live in Colorado and Costa Rica. Several people were bitten by rattlers in Colorado not far from where I live. But I’ve never seen one. I have only seen one snake in Costa Rica in three years and I’ve done a lot of hiking in wooded areas where I am sure there are plenty of snakes who don’t want to have an encounter with me. The snake my gardener brought to me last month was about two feet long, the thickness of a pencil, and was not poisonous. He found it in the woods behind my house in Costa Rica. I don’t like snakes either, or spiders, or almost anything that creeps and crawls, but I have more insects here in Colorado than I do in Costa Rica, and in fact, I have a resident snake in my garden here in Colorado. Most of what we fear will happen never does, so I would say that yes, it’s a bit neurotic to cancel a fabulous vacation because you “may” come in contact with a snake. . . and you may not. How will you ever live here if you let this fear govern your actions?
Take your trip to Costa Rica, walk anywhere you feel like walking and be reasonably assured that you will not see a snake and even if you do, once you see it there is little danger; they don’t want you to see them anymore than you want to. Just be sensible – don’t lift up rocks, chunks of wood, bricks etc without checking them out first, snakes hide from people and whenever possible they will disappear long before you are even aware of them. For most of my life I have lived where there are large snake populations (here in the desert, and we live out in the desert not in town – rattlesnakes & sidewinders, in Paraguay all sorts, in my considerably more than 50 years I have probably seen a total of 20 snakes and NEVER felt in any danger. So relax, take sensible precautions and have a ball. (Mind you – talk to me about sorpions and trantulas and I might have different advice!)
Are there snakes in Costa Rica? Sure. There are snakes everywhere except Ireland.
The question you should be asking is whether they’ll be a problem to you. And the answer is an almost unqualified “No”. As Maravilla and others have said, they’re here, all right, but they’re as uninterested in you as you are in them. In over two years here, I’ve seen a total of two. One was dead in the road.
As rf says above, watch where you reach and you’ll be fine. If you should see one, just walk away a few steps. When you turn around, it’ll be gone.
Wow, posted such a short time ago and so many replies already. Thank each of you so very much. I know you may think it silly of me to be so concerned about such a beneficial creature, but I have had this fear since a child — I even stapled the reptile pages shut on my Golden Book Encyclopedia, so that should give you some idea of the depth of my fear.
There’s no need to worry about me lifting rocks or any such thing because I certainly don’t want to discover any hidden “treasures”. I will certainly heed your advice and keep your words of encouragement in the back of my mind as I explore this beautiful country. You have put me at ease a great deal. Perhaps with the luck of the Irish, I won’t even encounter
one!Just taking some normal precautions is usually enough. When you are hiking don’t wear open toed shoes or sandals, protect yourself with hiking boots or shoes that come up your ankle.
Our gardener has been working in our finca for over twenty years and has yet to be bit by anything worse than a scorpion. He is picking up things and working at ground level all day so he has seen just about everything that lives here. He wears ankle high boots and long pants…………. oh yeah, and he carries a machete. Maybe that’s all you need?Alberto
Thank you, Alberto for your supportive words. I’ll save the machete idea for if we actually live in CR…it may be hard to get it passed security at the airport!
Much apreciated.
Miss Arlene, Just like you I used to be crazy scared of snakes, scorpions, ants, spiders and last year during the building, landscaping process of my property,within just a few weeks, I ran into all those above. I think we are more affraid of what we don’t know.
One incident, I was cleaning all the old wood that my constructors had taken away from the previous house, and I almost caught a 2 meters quaker snake in my hands thinking it was a piece of wood….. That poor kid was so scared of me he craweled as fast as his full belly permitted…..then there was a scorpion in my window…….I screamed, but there were so many people to make fun of me, I realized it was no problem….Other thing, I live right next to crocodile river……and even that, we get used to it. I would not go swimming with them, but I go fishing on the shore, surrounded by my new friends………oh, you can call me Tarzan
Hasta Luego JoAnother great supporter; I’m so pleased with all these responses.
Jo, you certainly are brave. I only hope I can become as fearless. I know these creatures are more afraid of us than we think; it’s the element of surprise that contributes to fear for both them and us. I’m just going to have to bite the bullet on this. When we return I’ll post something about my experiences (or hopefully, lack of).
Thank you all again.
Under the right circumstances, anyone can pick up a phobia and I’m sorry you are particularly upset by this fear of snakes. Although fears can limit our enjoyment of life, if we let them, I hope you consider the following thoughts and proceed with your plans to visit and maybe even live in Costa Rica, you will not regret it.
Please consider that there are about +/-8,000 reported snake bites in the US (out of an estimate of actually 45,000 bites/year) and Costa Rica only has about +/-600 bites reported per year. The snake that causes most of these troubles (almost 50%) is the Terciopelo (Bothrups asper) and in all of my years walking thru most of CR since 1982, including cocoa fields & jungle areas, I have never been biten by one. You just want to wear boots when exploring, follow your guide’s step, stay on paths (except right after a heavy rain and the sun is blazing because they have been known to come out to “sun”), watch where you place your hands when leaning on a trees while walking around within paths, avoid tall grassy areas or anyplace where you can’t really see the ground due to leaf debris, etc and that the Clodomiro Picado Institute which is one of the only anti-venom providers for Central America is in Costa Rica. Most of the fatalities that occur in CR (less than a dozen) are because the victims couldn’t reach a medical facility in time (locals that live in very remote places where transportaion is very difficult to come by). I’m sure that would not be your case and so you can be cautious, but know, the odds are, you will not be hurt by any snakes there. That said, you might see one, but are really not likely to since they prefer to hide & get out of our way pretty quickly. Most snakes will certainly avoid us because humans are much more dangerous to snakes, than snakes could ever be to us. If you go to CR, I’m sure you will enjoy all it has to offer and you will feel wonderful about yourself because you didn’t let this fear take away your ability to enjoy life.
It depends where you go.
I love snakes and can take you to them or tell you where you can find them…or not.
Chachagua has plenty as does the area close to Nuevo Arenal.
El Rincon de la Vieja has plenty too.
Guatusu has an abundance.
Ask the locals when you find an area you like and keep a tidy yard and you wont have problems most anywhere.This is my advice regarding snakes. We live in the mountains on a farm south of San Isidro PZ. When we walk through the tall grassy pastures on our way down the mountain to the river, we always wear hiking boots and long pants. I also carry a walking stick and I make sure to make plenty of noise with it as I walk — hitting the grass and tapping the ground. That way, if any snakes are in my intended path, they will surely hear me and run for their lives before I get there. That is one reason the locals always wear and carry a machete. When we walk with locals, they are constantly “blazing a trail” by swinging their machetes. This not only partially clears the path but any snakes hiding in the area will hear them from far off and flee. By using these measures, one could go for years and never see a snake of any kind, poisonous or otherwise. I am always aware of where I put my feet even in short grass or walking on a dirt road. This not only prevents me from stepping on snakes but also lizards, baby birds, etc. By the way, Machetes are easy to buy in Costa Rica. Just visit any hardware store and you will find a large selection.
I had no idea my phobia would generate so many responses and even be a focal article for Scott’s newsletters!
In compiling all the advice received from you kind folks it seems as if my chances of encountering one of these critters are pretty slim. For some reason I just thought snakes would be much more prevalent since there is so much open country, but common sense when walking in high grass or the pathways just makes sense. Believe me, I will heed every word!
Thank you all again for your concern.
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