Pennsylvania Couple Discover the Dream Home They Purchased Is Infested With Snakes

Imagine you search for years for your dream home and come across a beautiful 1830s stone house in rural Pennsylvania. There's only one small problem: a snake infestation. And not just a few snakes, but hundreds.

That's exactly what happened to Tyler and Lauren Bouldin, who purchased a property in Pine Grove, a small town of around 2,000 people in Central Pennsylvania, in 2020.

The Bouldins bought the 6,000-square-foot, six-bedroom, five-bathroom house at auction in 2020 for $460,000. The property had sat fallow and unoccupied for more than a decade before the Bouldins and their two children moved in.

That's apparently when the snakes took up residence.

"When we bought our house, we didn't realize that we were also buying a large population of snakes," Tyler joked in one video.

The snakes, as seen on the couple's TikTok account, appear largely unbothered by their human neighbors. The Bouldins have caught them slithering up the side of the house, slowly meandering across the front steps of the home, and running roughshod around the property.

"If you find yourself in this situation, the right response is not to burn the entire property to the ground as so many people have suggested," Tyler said.

Instead, the couple has gone about systematically filling in cracks in their home's foundation and pulling up stumps on the property that the snakes like to nest in. Tyler also invested in a "snake grabber" to help him catch snakes on the fly in his yard and remove them to the woods.

The Bouldins originally attempted to let nature manage itself by leaving the non-venomous black snakes largely alone.

"Every time we post a snake video, people say, ‘Oh, don’t worry about the black snakes. Don’t do anything with them.’ And that’s been our policy,” Tyler said in a 2023 TikTok. The black snakes, said Tyler, are annoying, but serve a purpose: They kept the more venomous Copperheads and timber rattlesnakes at bay.

Or at least that's what he thought. He soon discovered that the various snake species were nesting together.

@ouroldhouse

Turns out we didn’t just buy an old house… we bought a snake habitat. Five years of cleanup has made a huge difference. People Magazine recently shared our full snake story if you’d like to read it The article is linked in our bio. Follow along as we tackle the pond next! #theforgehouse #snake #renovation #landscape #snakes

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So the family took a different tack, looking to close up any holes in the property that the snakes were slithering into and doing their best to remove food sources—they've adopted two cats to help control the rodent population.

Tyler also invested in a "snake grabber" to help him catch snakes on the fly in his yard and remove them to the woods.

Given that snakes love to nest in rotting wood and overgrowth, "We spent whatever free time we had clearing the lawn, stone walls, gardens and woodland of debris, garbage piles, and overgrowth," Tyler told PEOPLE.

One of the biggest changes they've made to the property was removing an ancient in-ground pool that was a cozy home for water snakes.

"We removed our dangerous in-ground pool, restored the pond and installed filters and fountains, and closed up all of the holes in the house and barn, which created homes for mice, etc. We even planted mint around the structures, which naturally deters snakes," he continued.

@ouroldhouse

We're going to donate any commissions from purchases through this video to our local humane society, and hope that the info is helpful! There's a lot of feral cats without a warm place to sleep who could likely use one of these! Oh behalf of Whiskers and Misky, we with you all a happy new year! #theforgehouse #ouroldhouse #outdoorcats #barncat #feralcat #cathouse #clawsable #kittens

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The snakes are evidently not keeping the Bouldins from continuing to put down roots. In 2025, in fact, the couple announced that Tyler's parents had bought the stone cottage just next door.

If you've found your property overrun by snakes, experts recommend first doing everything you can to make the property less inviting for them. That includes removing debris they might like to nest in and keeping the grass short.

Experts also recommend removing their food sources—snakes feed on mice and other small rodents, so bringing an exterminator in to trap and remove rodents can also help,

Finally, if all else fails, it may be worth hiring a wildlife removal expert who can safely trap and rehome large snake populations.