An Arizona woman had a rude awakening when she returned home from vacation to find a three-foot snake in her toilet.
On July 15, Michele Lespron returned to her Tucson home after spending time in Nashville and discovered the reptile as she was about to use her toilet,12Newsreported.
“I slammed the lid back down right away when I saw it,” she told the news outlet.
According to theAssociated Press, Lespron contactedRattlesnake Solutions, a Phoenix-based pest control service, for help after her father unsuccessfully tried to capture and remove the snake from her toilet.
According to the company’sFacebookpost about its encounters with Lespron’s unwanted visitor, it took a professional three visits over two days to capture and remove the creature — a black and pink coachwhip snake — from the toilet.
Rattlesnake Solutions/ Local News X/ TMX
According to theArizona-Sonora Desert Museum, the coachwhip is a long and slender snake, usually measuring three to eight feet long. The snakes are commonly found in grasslands, deserts, and woodlands — speedy and non-venomous; coachwhips prey on birds, reptiles, carrion, and insects.
Rattlesnake Solutionssaid it handles about one or two “snakes in toilets” cases per year and considers the event a rare occurrence.
“These snakes may get into the plumbing through vaults in septic systems, flushed in from other homes, and a variety of other situations,” the pest control company shared in its Facebook post.
The Rattlesnake Solutions handler released the snake into the wild in the reptile’s natural habitat, per the AP.
Lespron told 12News that she avoided using the toilet that once housed the snake for several days after removing the creature. “I actually had all my toiletries from the trip I had been on, so I just moved everything to the other bathroom.”
Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories
She also said she started several other bathroom rituals to ward off more snake squatters.
“I always turn my light on even at night when I’m tired,” Lespron added. “I always leave my toilet lid closed, and my father put screens on the top of any openings on my roof so snakes and other animals can’t worm their way through.”
source: people.com
