It’s a bedtime story of sorts, though not one to ease you into the land of Nod.
A Georgia woman about to turn it in for the night was horrified to discover she had unannounced guests: a family of 18 snakes living under her bed.
Trish Wilcher was getting ready to go to sleep at her Augusta home on Sunday evening when she saw something near the bed that suddenly made her feel very wide awake.
“I spotted what I thought was a piece of fuzz on the floor, went to reach for it and it moved,” Wilcher told local channel WJBF.
Straightaway noticing more “fuzz” slithering on the carpet, she realized that there were snakes under the bed and called her husband.
The couple discovered they were sharing the room with a mother snake and her 17 recently hatched babies.
Wilcher’s husband, Max Wilcher, used a grabbing tool to put each snake into a linen bag before taking them to a nearby creek and releasing them.
“Still not confident that was the last of those things. Scared shirtless to be honest!” Trish said in a Facebook post. “No sleep tonight … just glad I saw that little tiny piece of what I thought was fuzz and went to pick it up.”
Daniel Sollenberger, a biologist for the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, told USA Today that it’s not uncommon for snakes to enter a home.
“Being small means they can get in small cracks at times and sometimes wind up in houses and garages,” he said.
The Wilchers called in a wildlife expert to check whether more snakes were secretly staying in their home.
Thankfully none were found, although the couple did learn that their departed visitors were garter snakes.
But Trish may not be over the fright just yet.
“I am struggling to move about the house much less sit down anywhere!!!” she wrote in her Facebook post. “I may need a cardiologist after this !!!”