Viewers were shocked after a person shared footage of a massive snake falling into the attic where renters were trying to deal with a rat infestation.
The video, posted by u/peanut-head21 to Reddit's popular "Oddly Terrifying" thread, received more than 42,500 upvotes and 2,700 comments in 16 hours, many from users offering advice for both the snake and rat issue.
While many users were confident the snake was "free pest control," one user mentioned that one snake would not be enough to fix a rat infestation since rats breed too fast.
According to an article written by Kate Latham for Insect Cop, female rats are capable of producing an average 40 babies per year. Rats are also able to reproduce just 48 hours after giving birth, which makes it difficult to control rat populations once an infestation has been discovered.
While snakes are often used to catch rodents, particularly rats and mice, it is not always possible for one snake to take care of an entire rat infestation alone, since some snakes do not eat more than once a week.
The user explained that the video was posted on their neighborhood Facebook page and that they decided to share it.
"Uh...we have rats in our attic and put web cams up to see when they were caught in traps," the Facebook post read. "Tonight, this dropped in. I am open for suggestions."
In the black and white footage recorded on a webcam, everything seems to be normal in the attic. That is until one second in, a massive snake fell from the ceiling and landed right by the rat traps.
In an apparent update, the person renting the house explained that they removed the traps from the attic to ensure the snake does not get injured.
The home renter also said they decided to name the snake "Ssssally" in an attempt to make the snake seem less frightening. They also said they discovered a hole where the rats and snake entered the home.
"I too wanted to burn down the house but I am renting so, for now, no arson," the poster joked.
More than 2,600 users commented on the post, but one user mentioned that it would be impossible for the snake to eat all of the rats before they start to breed.
"Rats can have a litter of 12 every 8 weeks. A female can breed at 9 weeks," the user mentioned. "Even with a hungry snake eating one rat a week, two full grown rats can become more than one thousand in less than a year. So yeah, either get more snakes or stick with those traps."
"OP is missing the obvious takeaway from this situation. The only logical course of action is more snakes," another user wrote.
"Bet they don't have any rats anymore," one user commented.
"He heard about the Rat Buffet," u/peanut-head21 replied to the commenter.
Other users joked about how the person would need something to get rid of the snake after the snake takes care of the rats.
"Snake for the rats, cat for the snake, dog for the cat, tiger for the dog, rhinoceros for the tiger, then flood the whole place and put a shark in there, drain the water and the shark dies. Simple," the user joked.
"I would put some rat bait in the attic space. Make sure to keep cats and dogs out of the attic," one user suggested. "Check every few days to see if the bait is gone. Once they eat it, they have to drink water, which makes them leave the attic. Then they die."
Newsweek reached out to u/peanut-head21 for comment.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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Samantha Berlin is a Newsweek reporter based in New York. Her focus is reporting on trends and human-interest stories. Samantha ... Read more
