Family’s Home Invaded By 102 Snakes: ‘They Were Hiding Everywhere’


A family in Regina, in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, had to call the local wildlife rehab agency to remove a few snakes from their house recently. Well, more than a few — 102 of the slithery critters, to be exact.

Megan Lawrence of the Salthaven West Wildlife Rehabilitation Center told CBC News that the family called because they had found a few small snakes in the basement, and then began seeing more.

“So they decided then it wasn’t a good idea to have them there anymore,” she said.

Most people would probably decide the same thing.

“They were starting to end up everywhere in the house but in the basement. For the most part they were in tight spaces. Cracks in the floors, cracks in the walls, between boxes, underneath things — anywhere they could get into, basically.”

Luckily — as if there is anything lucky about having a house full of snakes — they were Plains Garter snakes, which aren’t poisonous.

“They were already starting to go into hibernation,” she said. “So we just were, you know, picking up boxes and things off the floor and just found them and just caught them by hand. And then we were transporting them in buckets and pillowcases.”

They ended up carrying out five pillow cases full of snakes of various sizes. The volunteers who removed the snakes counted 102 in all, ranging from about 22 inches to over 3 feet long. Lawrence took this picture after they were removed from the house.

102 snakes invade a family's home
102 snakes invade a family’s home

“They were hiding everywhere,” one of the volunteers who helped remove the snakes told the Edmonton Sun.

It is not unusual for a snake to make its way into a house, such as this one reported by The Inquisitr that slithered in through a light fixture. But 102 of them at once?

A snake expert at the local museum, Dr. Ray Poulin, said it was common for snakes to wind their way underground and into houses this time of year and it is not unusual for garter snakes to show up in large numbers looking for a place to spend the winter.

“If they have found your basement and they have set up shop, they’re going to want to come back year after year,” he said.

Lawrence says she is sure there are still more snakes in the family’s basement.

“They’re going to keep trying to catch them and get them out of there. They don’t want to harm them and they know that with winter coming it’s important to not put them outside unless they have an alternate place to hibernate.”

As if it isn’t creepy enough trying to avoid the cobwebs when you go down in the basement.

Would you stay in a house full of snakes?

[Image via Mike Pingleton and Edmonton Sun]

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