Couple finds at least 25 snakes in newly purchased home

SALVISA, Ky. (WKYT/Gray News) - Jessica and Johnathan Perry bought their first house in August, but their dream home in Kentucky came with an unwelcome surprise.

Three weeks after the purchase, the couple found their first snake.

“I was actually taking out the trash. My son and I were home alone and I walked out the door, and there was a snake on the porch. I immediately called my husband and then my dad to try to get somebody to come out here to get it,” Jessica Perry said. “Then, a few days later, we found another, and a few days later, another. Then one night, about a week after finding the first one, Johnathan and his friend came down in the basement and found two adults and several juveniles in the basement.”

An infestation

The Perrys said they have found at least 25 snakes inside the home.

“At this point, in just a few months, that’s an infestation,” Jessica Perry said.

Multiple home inspections before closing did not reveal a snake den beneath the front porch.

“We hired a contractor to come out and actually dig out the concrete. When they busted through the middle, there were dozens and dozens of snake eggs, new and what looked like several years old,” Jessica Perry said.

‘The Snake House’

Neighbors told the couple the home had a reputation.

“One neighbor had said that, ‘I’m surprised that the previous owners didn’t tell you all that the snakes were free with purchase,’” Jessica Perry said.

Jessica Perry also contacted a previous owner, who told her it was nicknamed the “snake house” when he was a child.

“Now that we have found out that it’s a decades-old problem, what worries us now is that there are multiple dens within the foundation of the home, and in order to eradicate and mitigate that, you essentially have to bust down the entire home, but that’s our worst fear,” Jessica Perry said.

The snakes are not venomous, but the Perrys are worried about their 5-year-old son.

“Not necessarily that we’d be scared that they’d bite him. Snakes like warmth. So, if they were to get in the upper level and get in the bed or whatever, they could curl up around his neck, per se,” Johnathan Perry said.

Searching the basement for snakes has become a daily routine. The family has gotten more cats and cleared brush near a creek, with more work planned for the spring.

“We just bought the home in August and we’re already financially out thousands and thousands of dollars trying to fix an unanticipated problem that we didn’t have, or we didn’t anticipate having when we purchased it,” Jessica Perry said.

“It’s sad to say on a new home we just bought that it’s become a chore, I guess, that every evening we get home, we ask each other, ‘Have you gone to the basement yet to check for snakes?’” Johnathan Perry added.

The work includes removing the back porch to check for another den and addressing potential foundation problems. The process is expected to take months and cost thousands of dollars.

A friend of the family has set up a GoFundMe to help pay for the additional work.

What to do if a snake is found indoors

Kat Dale, lead keeper at the Kentucky Reptile Zoo, said a person who is sure a snake is nonvenomous can carefully remove it.

“If the snake is scared, it might do a couple things, like it might try to bite because it doesn’t understand. It might also musk, which will release a very smelly odor to protect itself, or shake its tail. So, if you understand their behavior and are OK with their reactions when they’re frightened, you could handle it and get them out by hand,” Dale said.

Dale said another option is to guide the snake into a large container or lift it with the end of a broom or a similar object. She emphasized that extermination is not the answer: Snakes benefit nature and help control pests.

If a snake cannot be confidently identified, do not handle it; contact a qualified wildlife professional for help.