Snake in house

21 years ago

What is a girl to do???

I was doing laundry and a small juvenile snake slithered from my dirty clothes. MY W/D is in the kitchen and right next to a door. SO I assume that is how he got in. I have a large hole in the wall behind the W/D..

do I just assume he will leave?? or die?? live in the wall..

it was small blackish in color. I live in SC so I assume it isnt poisonous. it just is a bit creepy..

advice???

TIA!

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Comments (3)

wduzak
21 years ago
I had the mother of a friend with the same problem. We were never able to find the snake she saw and it's likely that it slipped out by the same way it came in - through a hole in the air conditioning duct work
Chances are your snake has left your house. I would seal the hole if you don't want another one wandering in.
South Carolina does have posionous snakes but the likelyhood of it being posionous is very small.
If you could get a little more decriptive someone might be able to give you an idea of what kind it was.
If there is a local zoo or university there should be some herpers who might want to help.
This forum ought to have some South Carolina members.
There is a website: South Carolina Reptiles and Amphibians that might give you some leads on who to contact.
Best of luck and keep us informed on how things go.
Warren
nashville, Tennessee
Sharon McKenzie
21 years ago
I'm in South Carolina, and I'd just about bet a paycheck that this is a young Black Ratsnake, which is totally harmless. With VERY few exceptions, snakes found inside houses here are Ratsnakes, which come in looking for mice. Chances are, the snake is coming and going through some very small opening, or as you suggested, where the washer/dryer is. I would not even be remotely concerned, unless you have dogs or cats inside and then I'd worry about THEM eating the snake. You can email me and I can put you in touch with some herp people in your area(you may even be close to me, who knows?)who can give further advice or come remove it if it shows up again.

Sharon McKenzie
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It was purely a defensive move. It felt threatened and probably had no idea where to try to hide, not being used to rugs and furniture and the like. BTW, neither red rat snakes nor black snakes (presuming we're talking black racers) are "timid" at all. They are harmless, but both will defend themselves if necessary, and in fact, black racers will bite like fury. They do not tame down very well, remaining quite wild and very willing to bite. Red rats DO tame down easily, but will certainly defend themselves when they feel threatened. Any description of the snake, Nancy? It would be interesting to know what it is. And do you have an indoor/outdoor cat or dog, by any chance? They will often catch snakes and bring them inside, especially cats, who can play with them for hours without hurting them, if they choose. Marcia
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That must have been quite the surprise! But it would also have been very neat to see a live owl up close like that. That situation reminds me of the time I work up in the middle of the night to what sounded like a kitten in distress. After listening to it for a few minutes I finally got up, flipped on the light and opened my bedroom door to see what was making all the noise. It turned out to be a large pasty white cuban tree frog that my cats had surrounded and the youngest was poking to get it to make noises. The cats were rather disapointed when I took their new toy away from them! LOL
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RE: Snakes. I live in TX, not near NM, but I have lived in areas where I was likely to find a snake in or near the house. The most important thing to do to avoid finding a snake in your house is to keep the grass/groundcover low, low, low. We live in the middle of Austin and we have tons of baby copperheads and rat snakes in our yard if we don't mow often. When the grass is short, we never find them. When it's long, we see tons. So the "no grass" advice is probably very good advice! Also, some pest services will offer a "snake repellent" service where they spray or spread something (I don't know what) around your foundation every 3 months or so to keep snakes from coming inside. I've never used the service, so I don't know how well it works or how eco-friendly it is, but my friend swears by it. She moved to Austin from St. Petersburg (Russia) and was COMPLETELY freaked to find scorpions, tarantulas, snakes, centipedes, milipedes, roaches, deer, racoons, coyotes and even an armadillo in and around the house she rented (inside city limits but near a greenbelt), so she quickly became familiar with all the wildlife services in the phonebook! (She liked most of the critters, but I think she is permanently scarred by the scorpion experiences, even though she was never stung...) Good luck with your move! And no matter what you see in Alb, at least it's not Texas!
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Comments (35)
pjb, Sometimes you cannot avoid them though. I know someone who was turning on his faucet and got bit. Someone I used to work with was doing laundry inside her home and reached down to get some clothes and got bit, they figure it came through the dog door. I went to turn the lights off in my garage one evening and turned the corner in my hallway and there was one (I didn't get bit). Several species of rattlesnake will give you the chance to retreat but some like the Mojave green are just plain nasty. In the 20 years we've lived here I have dispatched more rattlers than I care to think about. My 4yr old g-son was less than 1/2 ft from one. Luckily it was injesting and couldn't strike. DH was weeding one winter and touched the back of one- thank God it was lethargic from the cold. I went to get a sweater one night (7/4) from DH's truck- stepped down and heard a rattle. I had to wait in the dark until it rattled again and then I jumped the other way. That was a 3' diamondback- it was less than a foot away. BTW, that 2 year old I posted about last month. The child is Dr. Sean Bush's little boy. Dr Bush who lives about 1/2 mile from us is the ponytail venom doctor from the TV channel Animal Planet's "Venom ER" show. Jude saw the snake in their backyard and tried to pick it up. Dr Bush keeps snakes, spiders, scorpians etc in his garage (well contained) and Jude thinking this was one of his daddy's snakes that got loose wanted to help. If you ever got bit Dr Bush is the man you want to take care of you. In fact he is on call if President Bush (no relation) ever gets bit at his ranch in Crawford.
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deefar
20 years ago
I had this snake in my house last spring. I picked it up and moved it outdoors.
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Dawn

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Snake in house

Comments (3)

wduzak

Sharon McKenzie

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deefar

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