So I'm playing with my kids in my side yard last night. It's super sunny there, and we've had two big lizards living there for years and sunning themselves often. My wife mentions to me she saw one of them caught in a bucket in a gravel area. I went over and tipped over the bucket to let him out. It was a little cold so I had to tip the bucket to slide him out. Once out he just sat still on the gravel. Not wanting my kids to get too excited and chase him around, I went over when the kids were busy and tapped him a bit to get him moving on out of sight. He scampered over to the wall and was walking away WHEN A BLACK HEAD DESCENDED from just under the ledge in the circled area here:


The head (about the same size as the lizard's head) dropped down, its big mouth opened and grabbed onto the lizard, which was fairly large at about 4 or 5 inches long. I watched in total amazement as a battle ensued, with the lizard wiggling wildly and managing to break free. My wife saw the lizard limp off while I watched the black head instantly retreat and disappear. STUNNED.

I thought maybe it was stretched out and somehow clinging to the underside of the ledge. Not wanting to stick my head down there, I ran to get a mirror, at which point my wife starting screeching not to leave her alone with the kids. I assured her that their lives were not going to be taken by the time I returned - at least not ALL of them. Sticking the mirror under the ledge, I found a hole about 3/8" in diameter. There were about 4 or 5 in a row, but I couldn't really see into them.


I scanned a Web site with snakes that live in coastal SoCal and came across one that matches what I saw - a California Whipsnake:


It's got to be a young and small one to fit in a hole that small as they grow to be pretty long. However, I'm not sure how big an area the hole leads to. Any construction guys out there that know?

Anybody else ever have a snake living in their wall? Should make playtime out there a little more interesting.

Thats a stucco weep screed (the blue) The holes are in the triangle to allow water to drain from your stucco. The snake shouldn't be able to enter your house (as long as it was installed properly). Cool snake, hard to catch cause they are fast little suckers.

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“Alright Brain, you don't like me, and I don't like you. But lets just do this, and I can get back to killing you with beer.” Homer

Don't know much about snakes but I hope they are harmless

And right under the Doggy Door! Spot is gonna get a surprise one of these days.
They're good for keeping the furry population down though. We got tons of Kings and Rattlesnakes at work. I wear 8" high boots just in case. I've almost stepped on a couple.

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I thought I was supposed to get better with practice!?!?!

It is a man eater - kill it. Has huge potential for a cool belt.

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A mountain biker who doesn't ride road has no legs
A road biker who doesn't ride mountain has no soul

Yup. Also known as a garter snake. I've had one disappear into my wall like magic and I had a hard time finding the hole that he went into. It was a pretty big snake that disappeared into what seemed like a tiny hole.

I've only seen him 2-3 times over the last year. But I do hear noises in the wall occasionally. I'm hoping he found a mouse or something to eat as we do have mice in the walls occasionally too. The cats sometimes congregate around a section of wall intently and I know that they heard something there again.

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Velo Ergo Endo

I would burn down my house if I had snakes coming out of the walls.

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never stop....

I'm with you on that one wirk. That freaks me out.

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A mountain biker who doesn't ride road has no legs
A road biker who doesn't ride mountain has no soul

The lizard has made it back to the wall tonight on the side yard, so he's good.

My parents were here last night for my son's bday and my he was telling them all about the snake. He showed him the many, many holes all around the house (with a mirror and flashlight to be able to see up into those holes as well), we talked about the fact that it'd be impossible to find the snake at this point, no way to flush him out, etc.

My parents get back to their house today only to find a California Whipsnake coiled on their doorstep! Coincidence? Hitchin' a ride? Or spreading throughout the region like a disease?

THERE ARE SNAKES IN MY MUTHAFUCKIN ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN PLANE!!!

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I am the eye of infinity...

All right - I've had some pretty surprising updates.

First off, the Whipsnake my parents found on their doorstep right after I told them the story turned out to be dead. So, as any caring grandparents would, they bottled it up in alcohol so my son could check the sh*t out!



Looks small, but it's 28 inches long!

So I was showing it to one of my son's friends and he runs out to check the holes where my snake was dive-bombing lizards from. He comes back in and tells me he sees the snake in there! "Yeah, right" I think. We'd checked it out and had seen no sign of it for days. I play along and go to check it out - and oooohh man it's in there.

Another hole a few inches down:


I also saw its head watching my action out of one of the peepholes, and before I could get the camera on it sloooowwwly retreated.

Needless to say the wife is freaking, my son is stoked, and my 2-year old daughter just runs around yelling "snake!"

Enough is enough! I have had it with these monkey fighting snakes in this Monday to Friday house!!

I can help with the drywall repairs when we go into your garage and cut the drywall just above the stemwall to remove said snake. I'm off next wednesday, or sometimes you can pry the stucco weep screed a bit to allow access and whe snake gets yanked out the void can be filled sealant.