small snakes in my DFW bathroom--need insight (buying a home, crawl space)

[loves2read]

Twice in about the last 7 or so days my husband and I have found a small rat/grass snake on the floor in our master bath...
the first one I thought was a worm or even carpet thread until I was going to pick it up and got close enough to see it was a snake...

my husband had on shoes and stepped on it--
it had pointy tail and narrow head and looked pretty much like the grass snakes we find under the flagstones in our yard...not poisonous...
BUT--I don't like snakes little or big or in-between and I especially don't like snakes IN MY HOUSE...

the first one I put down to crawling under the patio door--like the geckos we get sometimes--even though the door to the patio is over 15 ft from where we found them...
but now that we have found two I am much more concerned...I think it is not that likely that they BOTH would crawl to the bathroom from that patio door when it is just as likely one would have gone in different direction...

But where one snake can go, any snake can go...therefore I don't want any more coming in my house...

I called our exterminator and they don't do snakes...he was talking like I found a Burmese python in my garbage pail at first ...
I told him that it was a very small (under 6 inches probably) and he said it probably came in through the "drains"--the sewers...
he said they do that from time to time...that I should use 50/50 bleach and warm water and pour down the drains in the bathroom...
that snakes did not like bleach...
and he talked like they got calls about this problem (in DFW TX area) from time to time...

well I did that...

but when I posted the situation on my DFW forum people said that they were probably coming in through a weep hole in the exterior brick or maybe under the door flashing...

anyone here have a problem like this?

they are really small snakes (but they were babies) and while I know that there is framing and sheetrock and insulation between interior and exterior walls it is possible they could have crawled INTO a weep hole...they were as skinny as a mascara wand or thinner...but finding their way into the house I find just a little hard to believe...

they are easy to overlook if they were on any type of pattern or dark flooring

the only bearable part is that they are just grass snakes...
I mean if they were baby "bad snakes" we would not be staying in this house...not until there was a snake exorcism...

so any suggestions--other options to consider--suggestions for dealing with the weep holes or other factors

if they ARE coming in through the drains do we need to get plumber out to check for cracked sewer pipe?
we have had no plumbing problems or bad smells...

thanks for any help...

[angelintexas]

hey there! I too live in Texas; Fort Worth to be exact and this happened to me tonight. The snake was in the bathroom as was yours. I'm still in shock not to mention terrified. Did you ever find any resolution to the problem. Did they keep coming??? I'm going to try the bleach thing just to be safe. I'm glad I'm not the only one.

[loves2read]

our snakes were really small--3 inches or less--and grass snakes--
we put bleach down the drains a couple of times and have not had any other problems

reminded me to do it again

but it could have been our cat bringing them in to play with them

[Lolipopbubbles]

Jesus do I ever know how terrified you all must feel. I had a snake in my apt. years ago. I was terrified. It was about 2 to 3 feet long, brown with black spots. Then another one showed up and that one was like a green with reddish stripes on it's side quite pretty but it scared the hell out of me too much to appreciate it's markings.

Needless to say I move out of that basement apt. and had the crawl space under the floor filled in with cement. The floor was old and had a lot of tiny spaces between the planks anyway so I would have had that done anyway just not in such a hurry. That took care of them getting in through the foundation cracks. Then I had the dry well plugged up and opened the patio so I could have drainage into the yard instead of under the yard in the dry well. To think prior to that I had paid to have the dry well redone not knowing that I was actually preparing a better home for them with all those rocks under the ground for them and and nice pool to swim in...

I no longer have a snake problem. Oh and my neighbor behind me passed away so they didn't a nice garden for food anymore either. You may want to check for cracks in your foundation, make sure you don't have a huge crawl space under your floor as I did and never leave your door open when going back and forth to your car for groceries. Also look for any brooks or running water nearby that would indicate if you have a problem with infestation of snakes. People never think to look for that when buying a home. A cat may be a good way to make them move away eventually unless you have an infestation of them and just don't know it yet. I would also look into researching what type of birds would be a good predator for the snakes and try to attract those birds. Maybe snake repellent wouldn't be a good idea

[TamRE]

I would contact a pest control company and have them come out to make an assessment.