Plumbing Myths: Do Snakes Really Come Out of Toilets?

Everyone has heard the story about the guy who buys the baby alligator and flushes it down the toilet when it starts getting too big, just to have it come back an attack him when it is full grown.

This tale has been pretty soundly proven to be an urban legend. Sewers are too toxic for survival and do not contain enough food for a creature as large as an alligator.

But what about snakes? Could a snake come out of the toilet?

A Nightmare Becomes Reality

As it turns out, yes; snakes have been confirmed to crawl out of toilet bowls. Recently.

Just this week, a man in Israel was using the john when a snake crept out of the bowl and bit his… uh… privates. Luckily, the snake bite was not poisonous and the man will recover, but the bite should leave behind a lasting mark.

And this isn’t even the first reported case. A year ago, in New York, a man was brushing his teeth and looked over at the toilet when he thought he spotted something moving. Horrified, he realized it was a snake coming out of the hole.

The man called his super, who called a plumbing company, who sent a plumber to handle the situation. The plumber tried to gently pull the snake out, moving it inch by inch, until it was free. Afterwards, he placed it in a cooler, where it was measured at four feet long! They brought it to a Manhattan snake sanctuary.

How do snakes get into toilets? And how can I prevent it?!

Although there are multiple accounts of snakes in toilets (and rats, too), they are still extremely rare. It doesn’t appear to be something you can control, but is also not something to get overly worried about.

The most common cause is a snake somehow sneaking into the plumbing, possibly by crawling into a different toilet bowl, where they make their way through the pipes and emerge from another hole. It is unsure how the Israeli snake got into the bowl, but the one in New York was a California Kingsnake, a common pet that probably belonged to another tenant.

Let Rooter Experts Help!

If you call us to respond to a plumbing incident with your toilet, we will give it a complimentary animal inspection to make sure you are safe. Nobody wants a critter interrupting their private time!