Snakes Invade Family's Dream Home

[summer]

gma.yahoo.com/snake-invasion-turns-dream-house-nightmare-maryland-family-194837955--abc-news-topstories.html

This is one for the hissss-tory books.



One family in Maryland accidentally moved into a home where some unwanted visitors managed to slither in -- more than a dozen snakes -- turning their "dream house" into a nightmare, according to the family's lawyer and a lawsuit.



Jeff and Jody Brooks moved into their new house in Annapolis, Maryland in December, only to find out it was already a haven for more than a dozen black rat snakes, the family’s lawyer Matthew Evans told ABC News today.



One pest control company said the problem, which stemmed from the children's former play room, was so bad that the only option was to "burn the house down and let it sit for 15 years."

The family’s 4-year-old son found the first snake, a 7-foot long reptile, just months after they moved in. It was the first of many black rat snakes, nests and snake skins that the Brookses found in their "dream home," Evans said.


After finding three, the family packed up and moved out.



"We tried to brush it under the carpet with him and say that staying at my parent's house was a mini-vacation," Jody Brooks told ABC News.



"You don’t want to leave your kids alone anywhere in that house," she added. "It’s spooky.”



Some 13-15 snakes, ranging from 6 inches to 7 feet long, have been found since then, Evans said.



The family brought in a pest control company to gut the basement -– formerly the children's playroom -– and Evans said the company found snake tunnels throughout the insulation.



"As they pulled back the onion, it only got worse and worse,” Evans noted. “It’s so bad that the family was told the only way to guarantee the snakes leave is to burn down the home and let it sit for 15 years.”



After spending nearly $60,000 on pest control, the family brought on Evans to file a complaint against the seller, Joan Broseker, and her agent and daughter, Barbara Van Horn.



Evans said the $2 million lawsuit covers the $410,000 price of the home, the pest control and other related expenses as well as $1 million in punitive damages.



"I think that everybody’s sensationalizing this," Van Horn told ABC News.



Broseker did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request and the lawyer for the real estate agency, Barbara Palmer, declined comment.



“We were originally going to fix the problem,” Jody said. “Now we just want our money back and to start over. It’s emotionally exhausting and overwhelming.”

[josieposy]

[meshaliuknits]

My dream house comes with a "no infestation of animals I did not invite in" clause.

[thejackpot]

I just saw this on our news. I can't imagine. I would still be scratching myself trying to debug.

[meshaliuknits]

Jun 2, 2015 15:54:11 GMT -5 meshaliuknits said:

My dream house comes with a "no infestation of animals I did not invite in" clause.

I've thought about it some more. The new clause is "No infestation of flora, fauna or fungi, normal or paranormal, that I did not explicitly invite in."

[IIOY]

So "burn it down" is actual, professional-grade advice?

::feeling vindicated::

[Cicero]

I'll never forgive you for this summer.

[lobstertail]

Ugh, I just can't with snakes. I know they're helpful and all that but I ain't about em. The though of snake tunnels in the insulation gives me the willies.

[nsl]

Jul 17, 1974 16:16:36 GMT -5 summer said:

"I think that everybody’s sensationalizing this," Van Horn told ABC News.”

No. That is not what is happening here.

[jln]

I guess I feel a bit better about our recent millipede infestation. It could always be worse.

[meshaliuknits]

Jun 2, 2015 16:03:54 GMT -5 @soudesafinado said:

I hate snakes. This would have caused me to be medicated, I'm sure. I am serious about this. And it was in the playroom?

I will now forever picture you eating air while wearing an Indian Jones hat.

[stephogirl]

I remember listening to a podcast about a similar situation. Apparently when snakes select their den, that's their place for life and it's nearly impossible to get rid of them. The house from this podcast had HUNDREDS of snakes in the walls and along the foundation.

::shudder::

[heyjude]

Burn it down!!!!!


Lol forever!!!!!

[mmp]

I live a few miles from this house. There was a snake on my porch yesterday. I flipped out.

[decemberwedding07]

Jun 2, 2015 16:23:07 GMT -5 stephogirl said:

I remember listening to a podcast about a similar situation. Apparently when snakes select their den, that's their place for life and it's nearly impossible to get rid of them. The house from this podcast had HUNDREDS of snakes in the walls and along the foundation.

::shudder::

Is there a snake that eats other snakes? Could you just get one of those and wait for it to scare all the snakes out that it didn't eat, then trap that one snake? I feel like this is a pretty solid plan. Fight snakes with snakes!

[meshaliuknits]

Jun 2, 2015 16:51:53 GMT -5 decemberwedding07 said:

Jun 2, 2015 16:23:07 GMT -5 stephogirl said:

I remember listening to a podcast about a similar situation. Apparently when snakes select their den, that's their place for life and it's nearly impossible to get rid of them. The house from this podcast had HUNDREDS of snakes in the walls and along the foundation.

::shudder::

Is there a snake that eats other snakes? Could you just get one of those and wait for it to scare all the snakes out that it didn't eat, then trap that one snake? I feel like this is a pretty solid plan. Fight snakes with snakes!

I feel like this has been tried in cartoons. You get a snake to catch the mice, then you need a mongoose to catch the snakes and it just snowballs from there.

[sushi]

Jun 2, 2015 16:54:13 GMT -5 meshaliuknits said:

Jun 2, 2015 16:51:53 GMT -5 decemberwedding07 said:

Is there a snake that eats other snakes? Could you just get one of those and wait for it to scare all the snakes out that it didn't eat, then trap that one snake? I feel like this is a pretty solid plan. Fight snakes with snakes!

I feel like this has been tried in cartoons. You get a snake to catch the mice, then you need a mongoose to catch the snakes and it just snowballs from there.

That's not a cartoon. It's Hawaii, Guam, Australia. At least Hawaii went straight from rat to mongoose and skipped the snake.

[meshaliuknits]

Jun 2, 2015 16:59:29 GMT -5 sushi said:

Jun 2, 2015 16:54:13 GMT -5 meshaliuknits said:

I feel like this has been tried in cartoons. You get a snake to catch the mice, then you need a mongoose to catch the snakes and it just snowballs from there.

That's not a cartoon. It's Hawaii, Guam, Australia. At least Hawaii went straight from rat to mongoose and skipped the snake.

Bugs Bunny hasn't lied to me yet.

[summer]

Where do they come out from? Holes in the walls? Toilets? That's the part that's making me gag.

I have a friend with a serious snake phobia. She would need to be sedated and then transported to safety.

[memenee]

I just caught a quarter-sized moth in my house and I told DH we might have to move. Snakes? I can't even. This poor family. I'd be scarred for life.

[gpw]

Jun 2, 2015 16:03:54 GMT -5 @soudesafinado said:

I hate snakes. This would have caused me to be medicated, I'm sure. I am serious about this. And it was in the playroom?

Forget medicated.  Institutionalized.  

[gpw]

Jun 2, 2015 16:23:07 GMT -5 stephogirl said:

I remember listening to a podcast about a similar situation. Apparently when snakes select their den, that's their place for life and it's nearly impossible to get rid of them. The house from this podcast had HUNDREDS of snakes in the walls and along the foundation.

::shudder::

Go away.  

------------------------------------------------------->  

I could have lived my whole entire life and not known that information. 

[penguingrrl]

OMFG! I have a really really bad snake phobia and I'm not sure I would have left that house alive after the first one. Snakes are the stuff nightmares are made of.

[sporky]

I had a snake in my house once. There were screams, emergency calls to wildlife people and pest controls, and a night spent away from the house. And that was just one snake. A dozen? Take the professional's advice: Burn It Down.

[mcfelix]

This is somewhat local to me. I sent DH the article from the Annapolis paper and said - this is what nightmares are made of.

[onomatopoeia]

Jun 2, 2015 15:46:01 GMT -5 summer said:

gma.yahoo.com/snake-invasion-turns-dream-house-nightmare-maryland-family-194837955--abc-news-topstories.html


The family’s 4-year-old son found the first snake, a 7-foot long reptile, just months after they moved in. It was the first of many black rat snakes, nests and snake skins that the Brookses found in their "dream home," Evans said.

Can you imagine?  "A snake in the playroom, honey?  Soooo big?  Suuure, sweetie.  Ha ha, run along and play and stop fooling with mommy!" Oops.

SEVEN FEET LONG, PEOPLE.  I actually have no fear of snakes at all but this would send me to the nut house.

[pinkeggs]

[cosmowife]

We've had two - one in the house and one technically under the house. The one in the house was small and thin - probably less than 12" long. We captured him ourselves after tracking him down and took him outside in a cup. He was like a cute little baby snake. We saw another one - a big black one probably at least 4' long and much thicker (like 1" to 1.5" diameter) on our front patio. When he saw us, he slithered into a hole under our front door threshold. DH tried to grab his tail as he was slithering under the house - I have no idea why. I'm sure that big guy is happily living under our house in the old HVAC cavities that we sealed up or something.

[NitaX]

Jun 2, 2015 16:23:07 GMT -5 stephogirl said:

I remember listening to a podcast about a similar situation. Apparently when snakes select their den, that's their place for life and it's nearly impossible to get rid of them. The house from this podcast had HUNDREDS of snakes in the walls and along the foundation.

::shudder::

Thanks for this information. I was trying to understand the significance of why the answer is to burn it down and leave it for 15 years.

[Deleted]

A 7ft snake? Omg no no no

I don't understand how they got in either...snake tunnels in the insulation in the basement? What??? Basements have insulation?? We don't have basements around here but I though they were just concrete