Ok - I get the temptation, but maybe this was overkill?

[Terabith]

I like snakes, but it sounds like maybe this house had more snakes than is technically ideal?  

Homeowner Burns Down House Fighting Snake Infestation

[Faith-manor]

I will not open that link. I do not want to see it.

But I think I can automatically side on the "this is far too many snakes" side of the argument! 😱

[Terabith]

3 minutes ago, Faith-manor said:

I will not open that link. I do not want to see it.

But I think I can automatically side on the "this is far too many snakes" side of the argument! 😱

The link is a picture of the house as a burning inferno.  No snakes were photographed.  

[Forget-Me-Not]

Seems reasonable to me 😂.  Also note to self: don’t move to Maryland. 
 

Seriously though, can you smoke out snakes? 

Edited December 3, 2021 by Forget-Me-Not

[El...]

"The status of the snakes is undetermined." Good grief! 😆

[Faith-manor]

6 minutes ago, elroisees said:

"The status of the snakes is undetermined." Good grief! 😆

😯😂😂😂

[MooCow]

Ugh, what if they all lived??!! 

[Carol in Cal.]

Um.  This does not seem like overkill to me.  It probably is, but it doesn’t SEEM like it.

[Pawz4me]

I'm willing to let snakes live in peace as long as they leave me alone (in other words, I don't like them but I tolerate them).

That seems crazy cakes to me. If the homeowner could afford a million dollar home he/she could have afforded to relocate to an AirBnB or hotel and have a wildlife removal expert get rid of the snakes, even if it took awhile. I have a lot of sympathy, but I also kind of hope their homeowners insurance will refuse to pay.

[DawnM]

Did anyone watch that special years ago with the house that was built on a snake pit?   I think it was in Iowa.   They started hearing the slithering in the walls and their tap water started tasting nasty.    They discovered thousands of snakes.   They were all non-venomous, but GROSS.

Let me see if I can find the piece.

ETA:   It was Idaho

 

Edited December 3, 2021 by DawnM

[Slache]

32 minutes ago, Pawz4me said:

I'm willing to let snakes live in peace as long as they leave me alone (in other words, I don't like them but I tolerate them).

I love snakes but this is a bad thing.

2 minutes ago, DawnM said:

Did anyone watch that special years ago with the house that was built on a snake pit?   I think it was in Iowa.   They started hearing the slithering in the walls and their tap water started tasting nasty.    They discovered thousands of snakes.   They were all non-venomous, but GROSS.

Let me see if I can find the piece.

No, we're good. Thanks though.

[gardenmom5]

I was expecting it to be this house>

$1.5 Million 'Snake House' Lawsuit Settled for Unknown Sum | Annapolis, MD Patch

 

[gardenmom5]

46 minutes ago, Pawz4me said:

I'm willing to let snakes live in peace as long as they leave me alone (in other words, I don't like them but I tolerate them).

That seems crazy cakes to me. If the homeowner could afford a million dollar home he/she could have afforded to relocate to an AirBnB or hotel and have a wildlife removal expert get rid of the snakes, even if it took awhile. I have a lot of sympathy, but I also kind of hope their homeowners insurance will refuse to pay.

A snake is one thing - hundreds or even thousands of snakes will make a house uninhabitable. (tunneling through insulation rendering is useless, snake feces, carcasses of dead rodents, shed skin, etc.)

If it's somewhere snakes are used to nesting - the only thing you can do is kill every last one of them. And even that might not work.

The link I posted above - was a couple who sued their REagent for not disclosing the house had a snake problem.   Considering 1) she lived next door, and 2) her mother owned the house - she knew about the snakes.
They spent more than $60K trying to, unsuccessfully, get rid of the snakes.

depending upon the number of snakes - burning it down isn't overkill.

[Pawz4me]

1 minute ago, gardenmom5 said:

A snake is one thing - hundreds or even thousands of snakes will make a house uninhabitable. (tunneling through insulation rendering is useless, snake feces, carcasses of dead rodents, shed skin, etc.)

If it's somewhere snakes are used to nesting - the only thing you can do is kill every last one of them. And even that might not work.

The link I posted above - was a couple who sued their REagent for not disclosing the house had a snake problem.   Considering 1) she lived next door, and 2) her mother owned the house - she knew about the snakes.
They spent more than $60K trying to, unsuccessfully, get rid of the snakes.

depending upon the number of snakes - burning it down isn't overkill.

If the infestation is that bad then I would assume there'd be some recourse through their homeowners insurance--the health department declaring the house unlivable or something like that. I have little tolerance for careless people who start fires. They endanger first responders, neighboring homes, nearby forests and wildlife.

[MercyA]

I hope the snakes all got away.

[Tanaqui]

Hey! Let's look at it from the snake's perspective, DawnM. Here they are, minding their own business, as they've been doing for generations, when some rude humans come in and try to say they own the place!

[WildflowerMom]

I'll bet that house stunk to high heaven.  I'm guessing garter snakes.   🐍🤢

[gardenmom5]

19 minutes ago, Pawz4me said:

If the infestation is that bad then I would assume there'd be some recourse through their homeowners insurance--the health department declaring the house unlivable or something like that. I have little tolerance for careless people who start fires. They endanger first responders, neighboring homes, nearby forests and wildlife.

I agree it was stupid to accidently/on-purpose burn down the house - but the homeowners in the case I linked did not have the recourse you are suggesting.

I'm also well aware how dangerous it is for first responders - a spoiled brat son burned down his parents business for the insurance payout. Four FFs were killed.  He fled to Brazil - and they wouldn't extradite him until the prosecutor promised to not charge him with murder.  (Because even life in a US prison was cruel and unusual . . . . . . tell that to the families of the dead.)  I also went to school (from kindergarten) with a girl whose FF father died fighting a fire.

[Farrar]

When I first moved up here, there were fewer snakes. But, climate change...

Just move further north, folks. No need to burn down your house.

[Guest]

3 hours ago, Forget-Me-Not said:

Seems reasonable to me 😂.  Also note to self: don’t move to Maryland. 
 

Seriously though, can you smoke out snakes? 

Figures it was Maryland…we’ve got zebras, too. 
 

I really don’t have too much of a beef with snakes, though admittedly I like them to stay outside. But when I was a kid, I used to have little worm snakes all the time. I loved those little buddies. 

 

 

[DawnM]

2 hours ago, Tanaqui said:

Hey! Let's look at it from the snake's perspective, DawnM. Here they are, minding their own business, as they've been doing for generations, when some rude humans come in and try to say they own the place!

I don't understand how a snake den (or whatever it is called) isn't discovered while you are building.....that is just strange.

[Terabith]

1 hour ago, Quill said:

Figures it was Maryland…we’ve got zebras, too. 
 

I really don’t have too much of a beef with snakes, though admittedly I like them to stay outside. But when I was a kid, I used to have little worm snakes all the time. I loved those little buddies. 

IMG_8805.MOV 10.52 MB · 0 downloads  

 

Are the zebras still on the loose?

[Guest]

42 minutes ago, Terabith said:

Are the zebras still on the loose?

I think one was shot or hit by a car? I haven’t stayed up with that story. (I have never seen them; that’s a different area from where I live or usually am.)

[Indigo Blue]

A four foot black snake got into my car and crawled up the front passenger door, resulting in my son’s catapulting himself into the backseat in one swift motion, thus leaving me alone in the front, screaming, as I tried to maintain control of the car while pulling over. We stood on the roadside while Dh came, and figured the snake must have by that point crawled out of my car which was now pulled over with all doors open and everything stripped from the interior (carpets, mats, etc). Dh drove my car home and I drove the rickety old work van. Drove the car THREE more days thinking the snake was gone. Later, while I was driving home from town, I felt something very lightly brush against my ankle. I looked down and the snake was crawling up the driver’s side door.  I pulled over into a chicken farm, got out, and opened all doors again. The snake crawled out, went across the highway and into the woods. I had called Dh in the meantime to tell him the snake was, in fact, still in the car (he had previously tried to assure me the snake had already crawled out). Until I saw the snake exiting my car with my own two eyeballs, I was actively informing Dh that the car would be left where it was, I would walk the remaining 3 miles home, and he could collect it and promptly trade it in as I would no longer be driving it. The snake was about 4 feet long. It’s body spanned the entire width of my dashboard as it slowly crawled out. It had no doubt inadvertently been put into my car when I took a folded tarp  from the storage building, along with garden tools, and loaded them into my car. It was most likely in the folded tarp.

I’m not especially afraid of black snakes, but I’m not too fond of the idea of one crawling up the door while I’m driving down the road.

[Starr]

6 hours ago, Terabith said:

I like snakes, but it sounds like maybe this house had more snakes than is technically ideal?  

Homeowner Burns Down House Fighting Snake Infestation

I was just sending this to a couple of relatives. They figure the snakes are gone now.