Most of us only gripe about not having loo roll during midnight bathroom trips, but for one Texas woman, the experience turned chillingly similar to a horror flick when a snake bit her as she sat down on her toilet. Maria Jaimes from Cedar Creek, had a terrifying encounter when nature called at around 4:30am on December 15.
Not bothering to switch on the lights, she experienced every homeowner’s nightmare. Moments after sitting in the dark, Maria quickly realised her mistake as a rat snake that had curled up under the toilet seat sank its teeth into her leg.
She recounted the horror to local news outlet KXAN: “I felt a little poke on my leg and I said, ‘Something happened, my husband left something on the toilet.’ So I then turn on the light and I see that there’s a snake under my toilet.”
Despite the shock, Maria captured the ordeal on camera, explaining: “As scared as I was when this happened, I am the one who took these pictures because no one would believe it! I just want people to be aware this happens in real life and to be aware.”
Jaimes believes that the snake slithered into her home through a vent in her roof. She has since instructed her husband to install chicken wire across the vent to deter any more unwelcome visitors from entering their bathroom, reports The Mirror
While such incidents are rare, this is not the first time a snake has been found in someone’s toilet. Another woman in Texas reported finding a rattlesnake in her toilet last year.
“Snakes coming up in the toilet is an infrequent occurrence,” said pest control expert Alan Brown, technical director at ABC Home and Commercial Services, speaking to KXAN. “In 25 years of pest control, I have never dealt directly with it or have anybody that I know of deal with it.”
Generally, snakes prefer to stay outdoors, but they can occasionally find their way inside homes through plumbing or gaps like vents while searching for water.
“One is through the vent stack up on the roof… They can hold their breath and come through the toilet. They can also come kind of through the sewage system-especially if there may be a break in the lines or rats in the sewer,” Brown explained. “And then in some cases, they just make their way into a house traditionally, through a crack or a crevice. Or [they] make their way in and are looking for water and curl up in a toilet, as well.”
Rat snakes, which can appear quite daunting at a length of roughly 4 to 5 feet, are actually non-venomous and tend to avoid human interaction unless they feel under threat or have been disturbed. This was certainly the case for Maria when the serpent unexpectedly invaded her bathroom.
On occasion, these surprising home visitors turn out to be misplaced pets. For example, in November 2023, a woman in Wolverhampton encountered a surprise guest—a red, black, and orange snake—coiled up in her loo.
The West Midlands Police shared details of this peculiar incident online: “We’re used to the occasional slippery customer, but two of our Wolverhampton response officers came across a real life slithery character when they answered a late evening call-out recently. This colourful chap was lurking in a loo at a home in East Park, and as the resident wasn’t a big fan we attended and used a neighbour’s litter picker stick and a crate to flush him out.
“The officers also did some checks in the neighbourhood, but couldn’t find anyone who the snake, which they nicknamed ‘Ad’, may have belonged to. So they took it along to Manor Vets in Halesowen where he was checked to make sure he was none the worse for his adventure. And all within an hour of the initial call-out.”
