Snake sightings spike around Saskatoon

As the story of a Regina home with more than 100 garter snakes in its basement continues to circulate, people in the Saskatoon area are also seeing an uptick in snake sightings.

The R.M. of Corman Park's pest control officer says he's heard more reports of snake sightings this year than he has in the past decade.

"It's not really complaints," pest control officer Neil Mooney said. "It's just people telling me that they have snakes there."

Mooney said he's not sure why there would be a spike in the number of snakes this year. His only theory is that more people are building houses in areas that were traditionally wilderness and running across snakes that are normally not seen.

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The pest control officer said the best strategy with snakes is to make sure they don't enter your house in the first place. He said covering up cracks in basements and replacing wet ground around houses with gravel often helps.

While he admits many people aren't thrilled with the idea of having a snake in their house, they can have their uses.

"To me, snakes are a natural occurrence," he said. "I think they're a good thing to have out there. They get rid of a lot of things that are causing problems, so why not have them?"