Horror As Snake Skins Found Behind Bathroom Wall During DIY Project

A home renovation project took a shocking turn for one resident in North Carolina after they uncovered multiple snake skins behind the walls of their bathroom.

An image of the scene was shared in a post on Reddit by user u/kankelberri on the subreddit r/Wellthatsucks subforum. The post has amassed 8,900 upvotes and hundreds of comments from stunned users since it was first shared two months earlier in January.

The post, titled “Doing some bathroom remodeling, took down some drywall and found this!”, features an image of what appears to be three separate snake skins scattered on the floor. The discovery left the resident—and many Reddit users—disturbed.

In later comments, u/kankelberri clarified that the discovery was not just a single skin but multiple. The poster said: “It’s 3 separate skins. All about the same size. I was under the house the other day dealing with the plumbing and found several more, and they were larger.”

The Reddit user believes the skins belonged to rat snakes, a common, non-venomous species in the region. “They all appear to be rat snakes, which are not venomous, super common in North Carolina. I live surrounded by farmland and woods, only one close neighbor. My house is probably the warmest place they could find within a few square miles,” they said in a later comment.

Despite the eerie discovery, the resident noted that there was no indication of mice inside the house, leading them to believe the snakes were simply seeking warmth. “There’s zero evidence of mice in my house/walls. I believe they were seeking warmth for the most part,” the poster said.

The Reddit post comes as home renovation spending in the U.S. was found to have spiked in recent years, with the median spend rising by 60 percent between 2020 ($15,000) and 2023 ($24,000), according to a survey by Houzz, a home design website, conducted among 32,615 users, including 17,713 renovating U.S. homeowners.

‘They Could Be Quite Old’

Nicole Carpenter, a pest expert and the president of Black Pest Prevention, told Newsweek that the description and appearance of the shed skins strongly suggest they belong to rat snakes.

“The fact that there’s farmland and woods nearby, the shed skin is quite long—around five to seven feet—and has a ridged texture with the pattern of its scales retained” says that “these are rat snakes,” Carpenter said. “If you checked for rattlesnake tails and didn’t see any, that points toward them being rat snakes.”

Carpenter added that homeowners do not need to have rodents in their house to attract rat snakes. “Rat snakes often enter homes for warmth rather than food, especially in cooler months. While rat snakes are known for eating rodents, they also climb to hunt birds and eggs.”

She also offered a way to determine how old the skins might be. “Nudge the skin with a stick or gloved hand. If the skins are dry and brittle, they could be quite old, months or even years. If they are flexible, they have been shed recently.”

For those concerned about an active snake presence, Carpenter advised looking for snake droppings. “To figure out if you still have snakes around, check for dark droppings with white deposits. If you find some droppings but they are dry, crumbly, and chalky, it means that most likely there are no snakes in the house anymore.”

How the Snakes Got In

The resident suspects the snakes entered through an opening in the walls. “It looks like they were coming through a hole…judging by the way the insulation is matted down and pulled over the edge,” the poster said.

Carpenter agreed that the insulation’s condition is a crucial clue. “If the insulation is flattened near an opening, that’s a pretty good indicator of how they got in. Rat snakes usually enter homes through gaps around foundation vents, loose siding, insulation gaps, or anywhere pipes and wires enter the house,” she said.

She also pointed out that their climbing abilities allow them to enter through unexpected places. “Sometimes they come in through roof vents or gaps in the eaves because they’re great climbers. Since you’re surrounded by farmland and woods, they were probably looking for warmth more than food in your home,” she noted.

‘Nightmare’

Despite the unsettling find, u/kankelberri seems to be taking it in stride. They acknowledged the need to “seal off any potential points of entry” to prevent any future uninvited guests.

For homeowners in similar rural areas, Carpenter advises a thorough inspection of the home’s exterior for potential snake entry points, sealing cracks and gaps, and ensuring that foundation vents are secure. Though rat snakes pose no direct threat to humans, their presence inside a home is still enough to send a chill down any resident’s spine.

The Reddit post sparked horrified reactions from other users on the platform, many of whom expressed their discomfort at the thought of hidden snakes in their walls.

User britt_ann27 wrote “This honestly makes me wanna puke” and wezee said simply “That’s my nightmare.”

User mlhigg1973 responded with a blunt “Oh hell no,” while user wjcoyotesimmons commented “Omg. Sorry!”

Some joked about the drastic action they would take if they made a similar discovery.

User BlackSmith202020 declared: “Time to move out.” User excited_and_scared agreed: “My house would already be on the market. Nope.”

Newsweek has contacted the original poster for comment via the Reddit messaging system.

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