Critters in the House

[Talent312]

My DW seems to have a knack for finding critters in the house.

Thursday, DW reached into her makeup desk drawer and something moved. She screamed, stumbled backwards and fell on her rump. With her mobility issues, I had to call EMS for a lift assist. She said she had seen a snake. We look around, but do not see a snake. We all thought maybe she had hallucinated.

Later, I open the drawer, and a snake rests it's head on the edge of the drawer. I arm myself with her cane and a shovel. I yank the drawer out of the cabinet. The contents and the snake fall on the floor. The snake slithers off to a dark corner behind a waste basket. Shortly thereafter, the snake met its demise. It turned out to be a 5' long harmless garter snake.

Today, she sees a green frog in our LR. Thinking it a leaf, she bent to pick it up when it hopped. She runs over the hapless frog with her walker. She had me dispose of the now lifeless frog.

She now wants me to call a pest control service to keep these critters out of the house.
,

 

[DaveNV]

That's wild. I'm glad it wasn't something more dangerous. Where do you folks live?? I've never had a snake in the house.

Dave

 

[AnnaS]

I would definitely call pest control. Don't like bugs, insects, critters, you name it. We are in our home 37 years and twice we had the tiny ants. We took the house apart and ripped up the dirt in front of the house near the foundation. more than once, sprayed and sprayed. It worked -but I was ready to call pest control.

 

[ScoopKona]

Pests want water, food and shelter -- in that order. Deprive them of water and a food source.

 

[VacationForever]

Same question. Where do you live and it sounds like your home is not sealed. Besides pest control, it is time to close up the house to outside critters.

 

[Talent312]

Same question. Where do you live and it sounds like your home is not sealed. Besides pest control, it is time to close up the house to outside critters.

We live in North Florida on the border of a natural wooded area with a pond.
It's rather suitable for all sorts of wildlife, from armadillos to owls, and snakes.

It may have come in thru our sunroom when doors were open to air out.
But how it ended up residing in a table drawer is a mystery.
,

 

[Brett]

Maybe it's time to call the TV snake catchers

https://www.discovery.com/shows/guardians-of-the-glades
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snake_City

 

[noreenkate]

I would definitely call pest control, snakes usually mean mice.

 

[moonstone]

Friends of ours who live in an old (early 1900's) farmhouse a couple miles from us occasionally get garter snakes in the house. One evening they were entertaining friends for dinner. They were all sitting around the dining table enjoying desert and coffee and something caught Jim's eye in the chandelier. He tried not to stare, and didnt say anything, but he saw a small garter snake in the 'bowl' of the bottom part of the light poking its head over the side. He quickly suggested they take their coffee into the living room. After everybody moved out of the dining room he climbed up on a chair caught the snake and threw it outside. He didnt tell his wife until after their guests had left. She freaked, but not as much as when she went to pull out her crockpot a few days later and found 3 live baby garter snakes in it! We still tease them about having snakes for dinner!


~Diane

 

[Talent312]

... She freaked, but not as much as when she went to pull out her crockpot a few days later and found 3 live baby garter snakes in it! We still tease them about having snakes for dinner!

DW is worried that our snake may have family somewhere nearby.
We've checked just about everywhere, but...
It may be time to clean out the cabinet under the sink.
.

 

[VacationForever]

I wanted to say that whenever I find one of something, there is usually a second one of the same. Snakes, mice, centipedes, cockroaches, lizards, porcupines and what have-yous used to share my childhood home with us. I shudder when I think of it.

 

[nomoretslt]

My worst nightmare . . We live close to water now and so far have only seen two snakes outside (one that slithered away when the lawn guy was weed whacking and one curled up in a pile of brown leaves alongside the golf cart path…..most likely a copperhead. All outside doors are closed immediately. The garage doors are up only long enough for the car to clear. Our decks are elevated (second floor with no stairs to the ground) and screened, but I do see small geckos that can squeeze thru the cracks. I’m hoping the cracks are too narrow for a snake.

 

[clifffaith]

I wanted to say that whenever I find one of something, there is usually a second one of the same. Snakes, mice, centipedes, cockroaches, lizards, porcupines and what have-yous used to share my childhood home with us. I shudder when I think of it.

Yes! What is it with that? At my first apartment about twice a year I’d find a pretty big spider in the bathroom. I KNEW within 24 hours his “friend” would show up so I just left the bug spray on the bathroom counter. At our last home it was house centipedes that could run like the wind. There wouldn’t be any for a year, then suddenly two in two days.

 

[easyrider]

Some family members were up at our cabin this winter having a party. They were woken by shouting. A bat had made it into the cabin then while being chased, the bat had disappeared. A few hours later my nephew woke up and there was the bat hanging on the window curtains a few feet over his head. He left the room and close the door. His wife , who is a doctor, wasn't on this trip. When he told her about it she said to call his doctor and see if he needed to get the rabbis vaccination which he ended up getting.

I was up to the cabin yesterday and did notice on the eves of the cabin there was guano stains near some of the rafters. I also noticed tiny gaps between a couple of the rafters and roof sheeting. This spring I will be sealing it up. I'm sure any bat that was in the wall or cabin is dead because we don't heat the place in the winter unless some one is there and it was multiple days of minus temps. Bats are mammals and will die of exposure to cold.

Bill

 

[PigsDad]

Friends of ours who live in an old (early 1900's) farmhouse a couple miles from us occasionally get garter snakes in the house. One evening they were entertaining friends for dinner. They were all sitting around the dining table enjoying desert and coffee and something caught Jim's eye in the chandelier. He tried not to stare, and didnt say anything, but he saw a small garter snake in the 'bowl' of the bottom part of the light poking its head over the side. He quickly suggested they take their coffee into the living room. After everybody moved out of the dining room he climbed up on a chair caught the snake and threw it outside. He didnt tell his wife until after their guests had left. She freaked, but not as much as when she went to pull out her crockpot a few days later and found 3 live baby garter snakes in it! We still tease them about having snakes for dinner!

Nope. Time to burn the house down and start over.

Kurt

 

[nomoretslt]

@Talent312 wanted to add that I hope your DW is okay after her stumble. Could have been bad if she hit her head on the floor. you just don’t expect to see a snake in your drawer….

In our previous home one night, our cat suddenly alerted to something …we were on the top level. She ran down two flights of stairs to the basement…ran across the floor and sat and stared at a spot on the wall. Sure enough a small bat was hanging there, how on earth she heard it…so weird. Ended up opening the basement windows and blocking the space under the door, as the bat did not want to be there…not sure how it got there in the first place. Still had a few sleepless nights.

 

[Talent312]

@Talent312 wanted to add that I hope your DW is okay after her stumble. Could have been bad if she hit her head on the floor. you just don’t expect to see a snake in your drawer….

Thanks. Yeah, coulda been worse. EMS checked her over.
No concussion and nothing broken or dislocated.

The drawer is back in it's place. Damndest thing I ever saw.
From time to time, I look over there to see if anything moves.

 

[artringwald]

It can help to make sure there isn't excessive cover around the foundation of the house, i.e. weeds, leaves, overgrown shrubs. If it's weeded, trimmed, and mulched, critters will be less likely to get in. Also it only takes one tiny hole for things to enter. We kept getting mice in the basement and hired pest control. He helped find some holes I didn't find. However, every fall we'd still get mice in the basement even though there was no water or food. Oddly, it finally stopped when we replaced our old vinyl siding with Hardie Board. They also did a better job installed soffeting that didn't have any gaps.

 

[Talent312]

I just bought 2 jugs of Ortho Snake B Gon.
ThisOldHouse.com has a page on dealing with snakes.
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