Suburban family's home overrun by garter snakes despite attempts to keep them out

SAUK VILLAGE, Ill. - Garter snakes are invading a suburban family's home. Despite their efforts to keep them out, their booby traps are not working.

Tiffiny Newman has caught nine snakes in the past 14 days and there's even more that she's caught slithering in her Sauk Village home.

Newman rented the home with her two adult daughters in August 2023, paying the market rent rate.

On the first day, they spotted a snake in the basement and since then, they've traveled to the first floor, even coming out of the kitchen cabinets.

The management company Fairview Realty Group, located in Oak Forest, said they've sent abatement crews out twice to mitigate the problem.

Newman showed us where crews sprayed foam insulation to keep the snakes out.

There's even snake skin on the basement floor because somehow, even though they aren't wanted at the home on Yates Boulevard, they keep getting in.

Newman believes there's a nest underneath the house where the Sauk Village Administrator identified cracks in the foundation, issues with support beams and a mold problem.

"This thing is long… It is still at large. And I'm supposed to be comfortable in here?" said Newman.

The village administrator also deemed the home uninhabitable.

"The SV Administrator inspected the residence. He was appalled at the state of the resident and current living conditions of the residents. Our VA, after the personal visit, immediately contact the property management company as well as the property owner and provided specific guidance and direction to the property owner to immediately begin to eradicate the snake infestation inside and remediate the outside of the property to prevent any reptiles from getting into the property going forward," said Sauk Village Mayor Derrick Burgess.

Newman's lease is up in September and she plans to move.