Family Finds Snake Infestation After Moving Into First Home

A woman's lifelong goal of owning a home turned to alarm after her family stumbled onto a snake infestation in their new house's walls.

The incident took place in Centennial, Colorado, a suburb southeast of Denver. First-time homebuyer Amber Hall moved into the house with her children and dogs in late March but almost immediately realized they were not alone.

It began when Hall's dogs found a snake coiled up in a crevice near a wall and a door in the garage. When she felt around on the rest of the wall, Hall could feel where more snakes were living, explaining that it felt "warm and squishy in there." Within 10 days, according to KKTV, the family found 10 snakes in the garage.

"My kids and I are afraid to sleep in our beds, afraid to use the restroom, because snakes may come out of the toilet," Hall told KKTV. "I can't unpack any of my stuff because I'm definitely afraid that there's snakes in the boxes or under the boxes."

Hall hired a local snake wrangler, racking up a significant bill in the process. The wrangler surmised that the snakes were coming from an underground den beneath the house and that, based on their size, had been living there for roughly two years.

"The snake hunting, the traps—already over $1,000 I've paid," Hall said. "I don't feel like I'm the first one to find them, but I don't think that anybody would ever say that they knew they were there."

A representative for the real estate company Hall worked with told KKTV this was the first time it heard about the snakes on the property. Had it heard about the issue before, the company said that it would have told her.

The species found in Hall's home were garter snakes, which are harmless, but still alarming, as the ones the homeowner found were up to 4 feet long, according to the Washington Post. Numerous species are known to reside in Colorado, and in 2020, it was reported that a couple in Elizabeth had about 150 snakes removed from a den beneath their home. Hall said she will not feel safe in the home until someone "rips up the concrete and locates where they are living."

"It's rough," Hall said. "I'm 42 years old, and this is my first home. I've worked my whole life for it, and I can't enjoy it. My kids can't enjoy it. I'm scared to death."

In a statement to Newsweek, Centennial Animal Services said that while it did not assist in wrangling snakes at the house, Hall did reach out to them for help and was directed to Denver Snake Removal. It also said it did not have specific data about snake infestations in the region but said it does hear about them frequently.

Update 5/15/2023, 3:15 p.m. ET: This story has been updated with additional information and a comment from the Centennial Animal Services.