small snakes in basement...always dead
 

I just purchased a split foyer home in Maryland about a month ago. Over the past month, I've found 3 dead snakes in the basement. The carpet was torn up, so there's just the cement floor with a gap between the baseboard and floor. I've found a dead snake in the same room, in the same exact spot twice now and once in another room in the basement. Always half tucked in the gap below the baseboard.

Everything seems pretty well sealed up downstairs, short of a shower drain, fireplace, sump pump and washer drain. Where could these be coming in? I read the other "snake in house threads" here and have read about Snake-Away, but I would love to get at the root of the problem. Any ideas? Thanks!

This sounds like it could be the plot for a new movie, say Snakes in the House, starring Wesley Snipes (or perhaps John Goodman?).

Seriously, I get salamanders in my house, they typically come up through the floor drain when it rains. If you have a pipe running out to a drywell, they might get in through that.

Where in MD?

Annapolis

I actually had salamanders in my last house. Little guys with bright blue backs. I don't know how they got in either, but they didn't creep me out like snakes do.

Sounds like maybe they were babies that were hatched and never made it to the outside? Just guessing.I would go around and chalk, seal, any and all gaps to prevent mom from getting in again.:laughing:

What kind of snakes are they liberty ? A basement isn't yer typicle environment for snakes to hatch. Too cool and damp.Yer basement would have to be 85-95 degrees and 65% er above humidity. They would have to be comin form an ovipoverous mother, live bearer.

Actually a split foyer has many places in the "basement" that could reach temperature ranges that would allow for successful incubation of a clutch of eggs under normal living conditions. A relative high humidity is necessary for the eggs to survive. The temperature range you have stated is somewhat within the range necessary for python eggs, colubrid eggs will hatch in a temperature range of 76-82 degrees. Most unoccupied homes for sale have thermostat set at 78 -80 degrees (to keep electric bill lower in the summer) creating the ideal temperature for successful incubation.

To the OP: Don't waste your time with snake away it will not work. You need to seal any opening that both the food source and predator could enter from. As long as their is something to eat you will have snakes hunting said food. Avoid wood piles along the foundation (stack away from the house), make sure potential food sources for mice and rats are stored in sealed containers, fix leaky faucets and traps, avoid dense overgrowth around the structure, stuff large openings with copper wool, and caulk small openings.