Last Saturday, Nigerian Air force personnel attached to the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA), Lance Corporal Bercy Ogha, died after she was bitten in her buttocks by a snake that got into her toilet bowl through the septic tank at the Air Force base in Abuja.
After the sad demise of the servicewoman, a video of the snake whisperer who was invited to remove the huge reptile from her residence has gone rival on social media raising panic among people about using their loos.
Since then, more reports of snakes invasion of restrooms have also surfaced on the internet, with at least one death reported as a result. A resident of Akungba, Ondo state posted a video of how his sister spent time observing their toilet bowl after she heard about the death of a woman through a snake bite in the toilet.
In Lagos, a video that surfaced online and was shared by popular blog platform, Instablog, showed a snake circling around a toilet and its pipes with a man behind the camera.
The reoccurrence of “snakes in toilets” in the past week has gotten many Nigerians worried and in search of how such dreaded situations could be prevented.
Why do snakes enter buildings?
Snakes can enter a building for one of two reasons. Either for food or for temperature.
Rats, mice, and even squirrels are frequent prey for snakes, and if there are a lot of them around, they may bring snakes to your home. Snakes will follow these preys into your home and look for a place where they can readily hunt them, such as septic tanks, toilets, and the kitchen.
On the other hand, snakes, like all reptiles, are cold-blooded (ectothermic). They regulate their body temperature by warming up in the sun and cooling down in the shade.
Source: People’s Gazette