Chase Bank is selling a Rexburg, Idaho home for $66,000 less than its estimated value of $175,000 because it's, er, infested with thousands of garter snakes. The home went into foreclosure after owners Benjamin and Amber Sessions were forced into bankruptcy. The news video above is about the folks who owned the house before the Sessions purchased it. From The Rexburg Standard Journal:
"We were told that the previous owners in there didn't want to make their payment because they made up a story that there were snakes there, that they didn't want to pay their mortgage so they made up a snake story," Ben Sessions said.
The couple was also informed that every precaution was taken to ensure there wasn't a snake problem. They trusted the real estate agent that the information they had been told was true.
Later, the Sessions learned that the story of the snakes was not made up, and there was a problem.
"People always build first and never ask about an area and whether there is a snake den before they do," said (Center for North American Herpetology director Joe) Collins. "Afterward, it's too late: the house is there, the snakes are there and people are there. It's a great set up for a wonderful time."
The snakes are not likely to relocate, voluntarily or otherwise.
Even if the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, which oversees reptiles in the state, agreed to dislodge the garters, some snakes will remain and reproduce, restarting the cycle, Collins said.
(Realtor Todd) Davis said he is searching for snake-friendly buyers. He said he has every intention of disclosing the snake occupation to prospective purchasers.
"I guess I need a snake lover; either that or someone with multiple mongooses," said Davis.
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“I looove the sexy slither of a lady snake. Oh yeah!”
Can we please start saying that the plural of mongoose is mongeese? There are some ridiculosities in the English language, but this one must be corrected post haste in my opinion.
Would be great for a family with a pet mongoose. Free pet food for at least a few months!
Oh for Christ’s sake, “multiple mongooses”?
Just get a cat!
And anyways garter snakes are completely harmless and these guys will never have a mouse or cockroach problem.
if the problem was just a few snakes in the yard, that is one thing. But there were thousands!!! In the water supply, tell you what, you drink the snake feces water and shower in it and then I will. I know both of these families personally and they had no other choice. About your suggestion of cats, the first family had 2 cats and 2 big dogs. Um maybe 500 cats could have kept up with 2000 snakes. But not 2.
At least it wasn’t creepers.
TSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSsssss!
This house was on Animal Planets Infested. The problem I’d have is the snakes got into the water supply for the house. I do love snakes but I draw the line at drinking and bathing in snake feces tainted water.
There’s a snake in my boot!
The snakes aren’t the problem. The cheap poorly-constructed above-ground house with bad siding is the problem.
Garter snakes? Heck, I’d deal with them for that kind of a discount. We have similar, harmless snakes around our house and they’re very cool and fun to have around. OK, I wouldn’t want 1000 of them in my basement, but I doubt the problem is that bad anyway; what would they live on?
I know these families. It is that bad. You would drink and bathe in the excriments of snakes …
I was expecting more snakes…
no, I’m going to need much more for my snake pit. Yes, then the mail man will know what fear is…
Watch out for snakes!
Snakes! Why does it always have to be snakes?
I’m pretty sure they have a slam-dunk case against the realtor and previous owners, if they’re so inclined.
Unless non-poisonous snakes don’t count under the laws that normally cover home-sale disclosures.
Would Samuel L. Jackson put up with this?
I’ve wanted a mongoose ever since seeing the Chuck Jones version of “Rikki Tikki Tavi.” This would be the perfect excuse to get one.
Step 1. Buy mongoose and house; move to Idaho.
Step 2. ???
Step 3. PROFIT!!!
Haha, so have I. Unfortunately, iirc, they are basically illegal to have in USA, because they are very good at what they do. They’ve caused more than a few reptile species to become extinct.
Although really, a mongoose is overkill in this case. They aren’t cobras, after all. Just get some cats, and while they won’t solve the problem, they will get it under control.
As long as you don’t have snakes coming out of faucets, I wouldn’t mind finding one every now and then. Garter snakes are harmless. Now the rattlesnakes we used to find every now and then when we lived in Texas, they were a problem. ;)
Discerning. Very discerning, indeed.
I’m sure he meant to say concerning. Or maybe disconcerting. Hey, give the guy a break, he was flustrated being on TV.
“Snakes…I hate snakes.” -Dr. Henry Jones, JR.
I want those mother Fscking snakes out of the mother fscking house!
I’m feeling pretty discerned after watching this.
Ha! I *thought* that’s what he said!
It’s not easy to disconcert what he meant to say.
Discount isn’t due to the snakes. Discount is because it is obviously a hellmouth!
Surely there has to be some snake handler looking for a house. Just think–they could worship and hold their church services at home.
And they smell funny, too….
They only smell funny if you handle them, at which point they poop on you. Some people call it ‘musk’. It’s not. It’s shit. And it’s very discerning.
Triumph the Insult Comic Garter Snake?
No no, actually, there are two separate smells. Yes, they often do poop at the same time, but snakes have a separate musk gland, it is located in the base of their tails, and THAT is the really strong smell that doesn’t seem to want to come off. Snake musk!
Some people have all the luck…
Sorry, cjp, but it is musk. I breed hundreds of snakes every year for the past 20 years, so I do know “a little” about their anatomy.
I have had it with these mother****ing snakes in this mother****ing house!
HIGH OCTANE NIGHTMARE FUEL.
Garter snakes. It could be worse, like possibly rattlesnakes.
My high school had a similar problem with rattlesnakes. It was built on top of a snake den and for years after it was built someone would occasionally find a rattlesnake in the science hall.
I would have no problem with having a pack of garter snakes around to eat the crickets and other insects that might otherwise annoy me. I would even go so far as to say I would enjoy it.
But living in Idaho is out of the question.
This is really a seasonal problem, they only cluster like this in the winter so this would be a great deal for snowbirds. Plus you could rent it out for nature specials, movies and inquiring minds in the winter, or you could rent it without disclosure and sit on the front lawn with a bucket of popcorn.
So long as the house met my needs and was soundly built (which I doubt) I would have no problem living there. These snakes are harmless.
I wonder if the snake infestation is the real reason Chase is selling the house at such a reduced price. There have been countless stories of banks forclosing on people’s homes to then turn around and sell the house at a price the underwater homeowners might have been able to afford themselves. Barring an Indiana Jones snake pit scenario, most people who get forclosed on want to stay in their homes and pay what they can but the banks are making that very difficult. Shouldn’t the banks be working with the homeowners to refinance these homes instead of selling them out from under them? The banks lose money and the people lose their home. What is the point? Think of how many jobs could be created hiring people to help resolve these cases in a way that strikes the best deal for the bank and the homeowner. That would be better for the economy all the way around.
Why did it have to be snakes?
Looks like a job for Saint Patrick.
My inner linguist enjoyed the melding of “disturbing” and “disconcerting” to get “discerning.”
This would be such a cool place to make a temple to Asclepius! Add sacred dogs for healing wounds and you’re all set. viz http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asclepius
Years ago, I read about a house in Oklahoma where the mother went to pick her child off the floor and saw a rattlesnake under the kitchen table! The family called the local extension office. First, they had the family seal the foundation. Them, they had them take rat size glue sheets and nailed them to boards. The boards were place along the walls in the crawl space (how would you like to go into your crawl space knowing what was down there?). They ended up catching more than a dozen rattlesnakes and one nonpoisonous snake.
The real problem is not the snakes, but that the house is in Rexburg, Idaho. I grew up near there and it’s a total shithole. If you’ve seen Napoleon Dynamite then you’ve seen Rexburg; it was partly filmed there. It’s pretty much how it seems in the movie, only not funny at all. Living with a snake swarm might actually make a life there more interesting and bearable.
On second thought, no it wouldn’t.
Step 1: Drive up the road to Hanford with a dry cask.
Step 2: Pick up two megacuries of Co-60 (that’s 8*10^10 megabequerels for you SI fans out there).
Step 3: Drive it home, stopping off at Ace Hardware for a hoist to mount around the top of the cask, a length of chain, and a couple of cogwheels to serve as pulleys.
Step 4: Install the cask in the middle of the house.
Step 5: Hang the cogwheels to the roof of the living room, thread the chain through the cogwheels, and attach the chain to the hangar of the Co60 source and the cask lid.
Step 6: Lube the chain well so it will not foul.
Step 7: Sandbag the house with LOTS of shielding. Otherwise, the neighborhood association will get soggy and hard to light.
Step 8: Lead the chain outside the house to your International Harvester Travelall with a (metric) buttload of shadow shielding and a webcam peeking over the shield. Attach chain to trailer hitch.
Step 9: Pull forward enough to raise the cask and pull out the source. Park the Travelall, turn it off and walk away in the shadow of the shield.
Step 0A: Marinate the house in shiny gamma for a generation of snakes. For a 50′ radius from the source, there’s 100Gy/hr. Do the math.
Step 0B: After a while, everything is dead. No snakes on THIS plane. Start the Travellall and back up.
Step 0C: Once radiation source is back in the cask, return it to Hanford so you get your deposit back.
Step 0D: Check for secondary effects (not much with hard gamma) and remove any part of the house with secondary irradiation effects.
Step 0E: Enjoy your new snake-free home!
In 10 easy steps!
My mothers partner lives on a farm in Australia and he often finds snakes while mowing around the house. Or parts of snakes, anyway.
I think someone who owned the house before got a toaster from this guy:
Clearly, this is a job for Ophiuchus. Too bad he’s hiding behind the sun this time of year.
Garter snakes don’t bite, are harmless to humans AND they eat mice. If you’re afraid of Hanta virus, THIS is the house for you. Garter snakes are cool.
I think they need to call one of those TV reality shows….
you know…
Extreme Snakeover.
If there’s a real winter hibernation den under the house, then there’s probably a mating orgy when the ground warms up enough.
Which you’re then going to have to Explain To The Kids as “When a mommy snake and a dozen or so daddy snakes love each other very much….”
Where’s Barry White when you need him?
“I looove the sexy slither of a lady snake. Oh yeah!”
Can we please start saying that the plural of mongoose is mongeese? There are some ridiculosities in the English language, but this one must be corrected post haste in my opinion.
Would be great for a family with a pet mongoose. Free pet food for at least a few months!
Oh for Christ’s sake, “multiple mongooses”?
Just get a cat!
And anyways garter snakes are completely harmless and these guys will never have a mouse or cockroach problem.
if the problem was just a few snakes in the yard, that is one thing. But there were thousands!!! In the water supply, tell you what, you drink the snake feces water and shower in it and then I will. I know both of these families personally and they had no other choice. About your suggestion of cats, the first family had 2 cats and 2 big dogs. Um maybe 500 cats could have kept up with 2000 snakes. But not 2.
At least it wasn’t creepers.
TSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSsssss!
This house was on Animal Planets Infested. The problem I’d have is the snakes got into the water supply for the house. I do love snakes but I draw the line at drinking and bathing in snake feces tainted water.
There’s a snake in my boot!
The snakes aren’t the problem. The cheap poorly-constructed above-ground house with bad siding is the problem.
Garter snakes? Heck, I’d deal with them for that kind of a discount. We have similar, harmless snakes around our house and they’re very cool and fun to have around. OK, I wouldn’t want 1000 of them in my basement, but I doubt the problem is that bad anyway; what would they live on?
I know these families. It is that bad. You would drink and bathe in the excriments of snakes …
I was expecting more snakes…
no, I’m going to need much more for my snake pit. Yes, then the mail man will know what fear is…
Watch out for snakes!
Snakes! Why does it always have to be snakes?
I’m pretty sure they have a slam-dunk case against the realtor and previous owners, if they’re so inclined.
Unless non-poisonous snakes don’t count under the laws that normally cover home-sale disclosures.
Would Samuel L. Jackson put up with this?
I’ve wanted a mongoose ever since seeing the Chuck Jones version of “Rikki Tikki Tavi.” This would be the perfect excuse to get one.
Step 1. Buy mongoose and house; move to Idaho.
Step 2. ???
Step 3. PROFIT!!!
Haha, so have I. Unfortunately, iirc, they are basically illegal to have in USA, because they are very good at what they do. They’ve caused more than a few reptile species to become extinct.
Although really, a mongoose is overkill in this case. They aren’t cobras, after all. Just get some cats, and while they won’t solve the problem, they will get it under control.
As long as you don’t have snakes coming out of faucets, I wouldn’t mind finding one every now and then. Garter snakes are harmless. Now the rattlesnakes we used to find every now and then when we lived in Texas, they were a problem. ;)
Discerning. Very discerning, indeed.
I’m sure he meant to say concerning. Or maybe disconcerting. Hey, give the guy a break, he was flustrated being on TV.
“Snakes…I hate snakes.” -Dr. Henry Jones, JR.
I want those mother Fscking snakes out of the mother fscking house!
I’m feeling pretty discerned after watching this.
Ha! I *thought* that’s what he said!
It’s not easy to disconcert what he meant to say.
Discount isn’t due to the snakes. Discount is because it is obviously a hellmouth!
Surely there has to be some snake handler looking for a house. Just think–they could worship and hold their church services at home.
And they smell funny, too….
They only smell funny if you handle them, at which point they poop on you. Some people call it ‘musk’. It’s not. It’s shit. And it’s very discerning.
Triumph the Insult Comic Garter Snake?
No no, actually, there are two separate smells. Yes, they often do poop at the same time, but snakes have a separate musk gland, it is located in the base of their tails, and THAT is the really strong smell that doesn’t seem to want to come off. Snake musk!
Some people have all the luck…
Sorry, cjp, but it is musk. I breed hundreds of snakes every year for the past 20 years, so I do know “a little” about their anatomy.
I have had it with these mother****ing snakes in this mother****ing house!
HIGH OCTANE NIGHTMARE FUEL.
Garter snakes. It could be worse, like possibly rattlesnakes.
My high school had a similar problem with rattlesnakes. It was built on top of a snake den and for years after it was built someone would occasionally find a rattlesnake in the science hall.
I would have no problem with having a pack of garter snakes around to eat the crickets and other insects that might otherwise annoy me. I would even go so far as to say I would enjoy it.
But living in Idaho is out of the question.
This is really a seasonal problem, they only cluster like this in the winter so this would be a great deal for snowbirds. Plus you could rent it out for nature specials, movies and inquiring minds in the winter, or you could rent it without disclosure and sit on the front lawn with a bucket of popcorn.
So long as the house met my needs and was soundly built (which I doubt) I would have no problem living there. These snakes are harmless.
I wonder if the snake infestation is the real reason Chase is selling the house at such a reduced price. There have been countless stories of banks forclosing on people’s homes to then turn around and sell the house at a price the underwater homeowners might have been able to afford themselves. Barring an Indiana Jones snake pit scenario, most people who get forclosed on want to stay in their homes and pay what they can but the banks are making that very difficult. Shouldn’t the banks be working with the homeowners to refinance these homes instead of selling them out from under them? The banks lose money and the people lose their home. What is the point? Think of how many jobs could be created hiring people to help resolve these cases in a way that strikes the best deal for the bank and the homeowner. That would be better for the economy all the way around.
Why did it have to be snakes?
Looks like a job for Saint Patrick.
My inner linguist enjoyed the melding of “disturbing” and “disconcerting” to get “discerning.”
This would be such a cool place to make a temple to Asclepius! Add sacred dogs for healing wounds and you’re all set. viz http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asclepius
Years ago, I read about a house in Oklahoma where the mother went to pick her child off the floor and saw a rattlesnake under the kitchen table! The family called the local extension office. First, they had the family seal the foundation. Them, they had them take rat size glue sheets and nailed them to boards. The boards were place along the walls in the crawl space (how would you like to go into your crawl space knowing what was down there?). They ended up catching more than a dozen rattlesnakes and one nonpoisonous snake.
The real problem is not the snakes, but that the house is in Rexburg, Idaho. I grew up near there and it’s a total shithole. If you’ve seen Napoleon Dynamite then you’ve seen Rexburg; it was partly filmed there. It’s pretty much how it seems in the movie, only not funny at all. Living with a snake swarm might actually make a life there more interesting and bearable.
On second thought, no it wouldn’t.
Step 1: Drive up the road to Hanford with a dry cask.
Step 2: Pick up two megacuries of Co-60 (that’s 8*10^10 megabequerels for you SI fans out there).
Step 3: Drive it home, stopping off at Ace Hardware for a hoist to mount around the top of the cask, a length of chain, and a couple of cogwheels to serve as pulleys.
Step 4: Install the cask in the middle of the house.
Step 5: Hang the cogwheels to the roof of the living room, thread the chain through the cogwheels, and attach the chain to the hangar of the Co60 source and the cask lid.
Step 6: Lube the chain well so it will not foul.
Step 7: Sandbag the house with LOTS of shielding. Otherwise, the neighborhood association will get soggy and hard to light.
Step 8: Lead the chain outside the house to your International Harvester Travelall with a (metric) buttload of shadow shielding and a webcam peeking over the shield. Attach chain to trailer hitch.
Step 9: Pull forward enough to raise the cask and pull out the source. Park the Travelall, turn it off and walk away in the shadow of the shield.
Step 0A: Marinate the house in shiny gamma for a generation of snakes. For a 50′ radius from the source, there’s 100Gy/hr. Do the math.
Step 0B: After a while, everything is dead. No snakes on THIS plane. Start the Travellall and back up.
Step 0C: Once radiation source is back in the cask, return it to Hanford so you get your deposit back.
Step 0D: Check for secondary effects (not much with hard gamma) and remove any part of the house with secondary irradiation effects.
Step 0E: Enjoy your new snake-free home!
In 10 easy steps!
My mothers partner lives on a farm in Australia and he often finds snakes while mowing around the house. Or parts of snakes, anyway.
I think someone who owned the house before got a toaster from this guy:
Clearly, this is a job for Ophiuchus. Too bad he’s hiding behind the sun this time of year.
Attacked by snakes!
Garter snakes don’t bite, are harmless to humans AND they eat mice. If you’re afraid of Hanta virus, THIS is the house for you. Garter snakes are cool.
I think they need to call one of those TV reality shows….
you know…
Extreme Snakeover.
If there’s a real winter hibernation den under the house, then there’s probably a mating orgy when the ground warms up enough.
Which you’re then going to have to Explain To The Kids as “When a mommy snake and a dozen or so daddy snakes love each other very much….”
wheres BILLY the exterminator when ya need him?