I know this may not be practical for most, but here is what I did for snails: My property use to be very heavily infested with snails. Huge snails. They took a toll on some of the plants. Two years ago here in San Diego, we had fairly frequent and spaced out light showers. I live on a cul-de-sac and own the two empty lots next door. I also live on a hillside. Consequently, I have a lot of succulent groundcover. Everytime it sprinkled, the snails would come out, so I'd just go out and pick 'em and smash them in the middle of the street. I did this for about three months--everytime it rained or sprinkled. The street looked pretty yucky. Well, that was two years ago and now I ALMOST NEVER see a snail. Once in a blue moon I'll see a small one and I'll pick it, but that's about it. -Ron-

Thank you for the compliment stompoutbermuda (like the GW name by the way!). I've never seen a snake in my yard, and I live in prime snake territory. We have several species here (rattlers, coachwhips and gartner snakes). The last two are more of a benefit because they keep rodents and gophers at bay. I'm on the very outskirts of town too. Behind that wall is nothing but "wilderness" aka grassland(those palms line a country street back there). I guess it's simply a matter of being aware of your surroundings and being careful while you're out in the yard. Maybe carrying some sort of stick when you're doing maintenance and cleaning to poke around with before you stick your hand into a mess. I do have plenty of other wildlife around though. I have hummingbirds visiting my yard daily. I even think they nest in a bottlebrush tree. We also have a whole family of lizards that like to hang out on the wall and the patio. Oh, and some red-tailed skinks too. Those are really a treat to see! In the winter we get a whole array of wetland birds like blue & white egrets, seagulls, sandpipers, ducks, geese...the whole spectrum! Also, remember that snakes and other reptiles are cold blooded so they like to lay on rock/boulders/walls/streets to warm up. That's not to say that snakes won't seek shelter in the shrubs and bushes, but just something to think about. Here's a more updated picture of the yard. The one above has a huge volunteer gourd vine taking over the path to the patio. Now that it's gone, it looks a bit less crowded.

We have both an electric and a gas mower. I think the electric is great for the flat areas PLUS because it's quiet, I can run it before the neighborhood's 10 a.m. weekend no-mowing convention (it's not a "law" but we do talk about those early risers) or later in the evening (after I hear we're in for a storm overnight or the next day). An electric is too much work for our whole yard because the lawn slopes too much. Downhill is just fine but our gas mower is self-propelling and gets back uphill without too much extra work from me. I would guess that in Florida, your grass grows like crazy all the time. Maybe you could just count your mowing as your main exercise and do 20 minutes every day with an electric mower. The gas mower needs more maintenance than the electric, and the gas does smellwhich might be even stronger in your weather. If you do get a gas machine, and start smelling it inside the house, don't hesitate to replace the gasket around the door That said, with the better and better (longer lasting and stronger) batteries available every year, we're in for a battery (no-cord) electric if/when ours bites the dust. Hey! since you're no longer paying a service, you might look into buying one of those lawn mowing robots. I've seen them--they are like that vac'ing robot you can find on youtube riding cats around the house. I can just see one zipping around, covered with little lizards going for a joy ride!

Ontariomom, I wonder with the set up that Ice has if that still might work for you because the panels are not solid up to the railing. I think the opening above the frosted glass makes it much less a barrier than frosted glass all the way up. I don't think it would appear to block the house like other, more solid choices would. And it would give you a bit of privacy on that deck, plus solve the cleaning issues. You could explore the code for how much space above the glass to the railing you could have.