I rented a condo in a complex with local management. The area around my patio is overgrown and I am having a serious snake problem. Since moving in 4 months ago I have seen 3 snakes that seem to live in that undergrowth. Two of them are black racer and black and green garden snake. The third one is light brown with darker brown diamond shapes which I believe is a pigmy rattler. I have spoken to management about cleaning out the overgrowth and they said they could not do that but they would spread "Snake Away" around my apartment. This has been tried before. Being in Florida in the summer time it rains almost every other day and when it does the Snake Away stops working. I am terrified to the extreame of snakes and have not been sleeping well because I have nightmares about snakes getting into my apartment. One has already crawled into my storage closet on my patio. My question is: If the management refuses to clear out this area to make it safer for me and my small dogs. Is this grounds for me to break my lease. I am terrified to go outside my apartment, especially if my dogs have to go out after dark.

I don't know the legalities of breaking the lease, but your pets have nothing to fear from the garden snakes, and if the dog leaves it alone, not from the supposed rattler either. (Unless your dogs are extremely small.)

On the other hand, a poisonous snake in a residential area is a public health problem and those authorities might listen to you. In addition, south FL has an increasing problem with constrictors which can get big enough to cause concern for you pets.

So I guess the bottom line is for you to contact public health auth or animal control. Getting photos of the snakes before you do so you can provide evidence of the species would help your case (maybe).

Just move