Can snakes come into your bathroom from the sewer drains? (house, purchase) - Fort Worth - Texas (TX) - City-Data Forum

loves2read · 08-12-2010, 03:41 PM

I know people tell stories about snakes coming up through toilets--which I always thought was just that--a story...
especially if the point was the snake biting the person sitting on the toilet...

but in the past 10 days we have found on two individual occasions a small (length of my middle finger) snake on the floor of our master bath...
the first one I thought was a worm--and went to pick it up and realized that it was a snake (yikes!)...when I touched it with the toilet paper, it started to crawl and my husband stepped on it--wearing shoes.

We looked at it closely and it appeared to be baby grass snake--like the gray ones we find curled up under the flagstones in our yard...they are non-poisonous...this snake had a pointed tail and did not appear to have a wide-jawed head--fat tails and wide-jaws are marks of poisonous snakes...
and it was definitely not a coral snake or a king snake--just a gray/dark brown one...

The first one we thought maybe crawled into the house from the door to the patio--even though that is probably 15-20 ft from where it was in the bathroom...

But last night we were in bathroom again and we saw the second one--
this one was already dead--looked to be the same size as the first one--
I don't know how fast small snakes like that grow--but my first thought was that they were nestmates....
so then I was worried there was a nest around somewhere...

I called the exterminator we use and he said they don't do snakes--that more than likely the mother had a nest in the sewer and they came out the drain--like the shower drain...

he said to take bleach and warm water 50/50 and pour down the drains...
and if that did not work to use something more caustic like Drano.

So has anyone else had this problem--
should be be checking the plumbing lines to see if there are openings where the snakes could crawl in from the outside--
this bathroom IS on an outside corner of the house but all the plumbing lines either come in from the attic or from the slab--NOT through an outside wall...

any other suggestions?
I am getting a little creeped out by this...
don't want to find any more or any bigger ones...

John Buettner · 08-12-2010, 04:45 PM

Try putting a screen over the vent pipe on the roof. That's how frogs were getting into our bathroom.

loves2read · 08-12-2010, 04:53 PM

I have a difficult time believing that snakes could BE on our roof in this heat and then climb a vertical stack pipe to fall down--these snakes could not get purchase on a vertical stack pipe--they are not long enough to push themselves up more than an inch or two at a time...

our roof is very steep--
how are they getting up there in the first place==climbing up the drainspouts to the gutters and then up on to the roof---

sorry if my comments sound ungrateful but these snakes are so small that it would take a fine, fine mesh to prevent their climbing in if that is how it happened...

SouthernBelleInUtah · 08-12-2010, 05:55 PM

I would suspect a cracked sewer line where the mom got in. Not all cracked lines show up as problems for a long time.

escanlan · 08-12-2010, 05:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by loves2read

I know people tell stories about snakes coming up through toilets--which I always thought was just that--a story...
especially if the point was the snake biting the person sitting on the toilet...

but in the past 10 days we have found on two individual occasions a small (length of my middle finger) snake on the floor of our master bath...
the first one I thought was a worm--and went to pick it up and realized that it was a snake (yikes!)...when I touched it with the toilet paper, it started to crawl and my husband stepped on it--wearing shoes.

We looked at it closely and it appeared to be baby grass snake--like the gray ones we find curled up under the flagstones in our yard...they are non-poisonous...this snake had a pointed tail and did not appear to have a wide-jawed head--fat tails and wide-jaws are marks of poisonous snakes...
and it was definitely not a coral snake or a king snake--just a gray/dark brown one...

The first one we thought maybe crawled into the house from the door to the patio--even though that is probably 15-20 ft from where it was in the bathroom...

But last night we were in bathroom again and we saw the second one--
this one was already dead--looked to be the same size as the first one--
I don't know how fast small snakes like that grow--but my first thought was that they were nestmates....
so then I was worried there was a nest around somewhere...

I called the exterminator we use and he said they don't do snakes--that more than likely the mother had a nest in the sewer and they came out the drain--like the shower drain...

he said to take bleach and warm water 50/50 and pour down the drains...
and if that did not work to use something more caustic like Drano.

So has anyone else had this problem--
should be be checking the plumbing lines to see if there are openings where the snakes could crawl in from the outside--
this bathroom IS on an outside corner of the house but all the plumbing lines either come in from the attic or from the slab--NOT through an outside wall...

any other suggestions?
I am getting a little creeped out by this...
don't want to find any more or any bigger ones...

Where it is possible under the right conditions for them to come in through a drain I would more expect another entry point. A snake of that small size could easily come in a gap in the exterior siding bottom edge, a brick weephole, or other such opening and eventually found a way into the homes interior. It could also come in through an exterior door seal that is deteriorating near the bottom of a door. There are plenty of places a small snake can enter a home, and plenty of places that should be sealed but are not.

Mckellyb · 08-12-2010, 08:05 PM

They're coming in via a near-ground-level gap...it could be tiny. It is likely on the outside wall near your bathroom.

While possible, in theory, for snakes to come in via the sewer, they're air-breathing critters, like us, so they must hold their breath. With an unknown on the other side, they're not going to take the chance...much like us.

loves2read · 08-12-2010, 08:16 PM

I think the exterminator's point was that sewers DO have air or at least air pockets in them--that they are not completely full of water--and other products...

I guess it depends on the particular sewer line--

he also said that if the mother had a litter in the main line that my neighbors could have similar problem with the snakes coming in their house through their individual connection...
called one of my neighbors and they have had no problem--

we are going to investigate the areas under the sink and the jacuzzi tub --where I think it is likely there might be gap...

the weep hole is good point--but there is framing and sheetrock and insulation between the interior and the exterior wall--
how likely is it that they could come in at separate times through the same weep hole

and what can we use to block them and still let them do their jobs?
steel mesh would be find enough but it will rust...
can we super glue very fine window screening over them?

I don't disagree that they can crawl under the doors--
we have little geckos from outside that do that now and come into the house...

but the closest door is over 15 ft away--why would they both go to the same area of the bathroom floor to be found--
why would one not go to the kitchen or some other place?
that is the sort of the problem with my reconstruction--
two snakes--same location-- same size-- yet found at separate times...

and I am going to call the plumber who did the installation in the house--we have used them a couple of times since we bought it--
they would probably know if real snakes can come into the house via sewer lines...

PBoy · 08-12-2010, 08:39 PM

Oh gosh - not another thing to keep me up at night!

loves2read · 08-12-2010, 09:37 PM

snakes are almost a universal anathema -- one fear/hate/dislike that is found across all gender/cultural/financial/ethnic stratas---

LIKING snakes is much more rare than hating them...
it is pretty much a universal constant
so the idea that there were two in my bathroom and I don't like them there is not funny...

momof2dfw · 08-12-2010, 09:42 PM

Moderator cut: can't comment on mod actions on forum
YES, snakes do travel in the sewers. I have seen them going into and out of the curb drains on the street and alley. I've also heard and seen news stories about people finding them in their toilets. Which is why I ALWAYS turn on the light in the middle of the night when I get up to go. I sure don't want to sit down and find THAT surprise THAT way.