Illinois Family Moves Into Home, Finds Snake in Toaster
This is certainly not the experience you want to have when you move into a new home. A family in Macoupin County, Illinois got an unwelcome surprise when they moved into their new place and found snakes everywhere including their toaster.
I first saw this story shared by Newsweek. It's a photo shared into the Illinois Snake Identification and Education Facebook group by Aaron Jennifer Key who was kind enough to give me permission to share it here.
Here's the backstory they provided on the post:
Needing advice for a friend. They recently moved into a house and now with the warmer weather snakes are in her house. She is terrified of snakes and looking for natural deterrents. They have set mouse traps for any potential food and going to plant lemon grass. She doesn’t care if they are in the yard, it’s expected, but not in her house. This is the 3rd one in the house in 2 weeks. Any advice on how to keep them out of the house? This is the picture she sent this morning. The house next door is unoccupied with several different types of wildlife living there.
That's quite a dilemma. The good news is that garter snake isn't venomous or dangerous to humans at all. The bad news is that most people don't enjoy hanging out with snakes in their kitchen.
The Family Handyman has some good tips on how to dissuade snakes from entering your home. There are lots of natural ways to do it in a way that won't harm the snakes since this garter snake is harmless.
Thanks again to Aaron Jennifer Key for allowing me to share their story.