Picture this: you’re unwinding beneath hot water in your brand-new home when—out of nowhere—a snake rises from the bathroom pipes and wraps around your feet. For one woman in Saint-Paul-le-Gaultier, on the edge of Orne and Mayenne, this shocking scenario wasn’t a nightmare but a very real, very slithery Monday evening.
A Sudden Intruder in the Shower
Deborah had just stepped into her new house, cozy and optimistic, a little past 8 p.m. Her first order of business? A soothing shower. But moments after stepping in and letting the hot water wash away the stresses of moving, she felt an odd sensation by her feet.
To her horror, a snake had climbed out of the pipes, making its unceremonious debut into her house. “When I felt it on my feet, I screamed and ran out,” Deborah recalls. Tears streamed while adrenaline spiked—sometimes, you simply don’t stick around to ask the visitor about their plumbing experience.
Calm and Courage in the Face of Panic
Her partner, alarmed by the commotion, hurried to the bathroom and found Deborah in tears. He was met with the sight of a snake, night-black in color and over a meter in length, coiling itself in the shower like it owned the place. Deborah was petrified: “I was completely paralyzed,” she says—a perfectly reasonable response when confronted with a reptilian gatecrasher.
But her partner, evidently made of sterner stuff, quickly assessed the situation. Turning to the wisdom of the Internet (where else?), he pulled up an app that identifies snakes with just a picture. Their scaly visitor turned out to be an Aesculapian snake—harmless, thankfully, despite its dramatic entrance.
The couple made a quick decision: they wouldn’t call the fire department. “We didn’t want to bother anyone for nothing,” Deborah explains. Instead, with a mix of nerves and improvisation, her partner used a stick and a cardboard box to carefully catch the snake and set it free in a field just a few hundred meters away.
Deborah only stopped crying after seeing the snake slither off into the wild, far away from the freshly cleaned tiles of their bathroom.
A Truly Exceptional Occurrence
Incidents like this are extremely rare, according to the professionals. Lieutenant Colonel Foltzer, who handles communications for the Orne fire and rescue center, reassures: “To my knowledge, we have never had an intervention in the department for a snake coming up through the plumbing.”
After being contacted, François Radigue of the Fauna and Flora Association of Orne confirmed the identification: an Aesculapian snake, present in Orne and Sarthe, and capable of reaching up to 1.6 meters—certainly enough to surprise the unprepared citizen during a shower.
These snakes, it appears, don’t mind visiting local homes—likely in pursuit of adventure, warmth, or simply a change of scene. No venom here, though. Just a knack for dramatic entrances.
- First recorded case of a snake emerging through pipes in the department.
- The snake was released safely, unharmed, into a nearby field.
- Aesculapian snakes are commonly found in the area but are non-venomous.
The Real Culprit: Leaky Pipes
According to Radigue, this unexpected bathroom guest was likely made possible by one thing: faulty waterproofing in the home’s external sanitation network, probably near a small reservoir. Renovation work was already on the cards for the septic tank, so future encounters with cheeky reptiles should be off the menu.
This case offers a rather persuasive reminder:
- Checking your home’s pipes and sanitation systems isn’t just about dodging leaks—it might save you from future up-close lessons in local wildlife.
- Bravery comes in many forms, and sometimes it looks like googling, improvising with cardboard, and not making a fuss with emergency responders.
In the end, the story leaves us with one unforgettable (and, thankfully, harmless) encounter—and perhaps a new appreciation for plumbing maintenance. If you ever feel something mysterious in your shower, take heart: sometimes, the only thing slithering up the pipes is a harmless neighbor in scales.
John is a curious mind who loves to write about diverse topics. Passionate about sharing his thoughts and perspectives, he enjoys sparking conversations and encouraging discovery. For him, every subject is an invitation to discuss and learn.
