Jonesboro Man Discovers Five-Foot Snake in Malfunctioning Dryer

JONESBORO, Ark. — Tim Jones was having issues getting his clothes dryer to work, but he didn’t expect the problems were caused by a new slithering resident that had moved in through the dryer vent.

The issues began on Saturday, August 3. Tim and his family noticed a thumping noise when the dryer was running that night. He assumed it was something in the drum of the dryer, which he said “happened before.” He let the dryer continue to run and finish drying his clothes.

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The next day, Sunday afternoon, Tim was going to use the dryer again. This time, the dryer seemed like it had seized up, he said. The drum would not turn at all. The dryer was six years old and Tim assumed it had simply gone out. So, he went to buy a new one. They removed the old dryer and put it outside. But they weren’t finished with the appliance just yet.

“My wife was missing a Bombas sock, and if you have those you know how expensive they are,” Tim told NEA Report.

Intent on finding that expensive sock, Tim reach into the dryer. He then immediately looked at his wife and said “snake.”

“She looked on in disbelief, so I started taking apart dryer,” Tim said.

As Tim pried open the dryer, he found the reason it wasn’t working. The snake had wrapped itself around the dryer vent turbine. So, they began to unwind the turbine. Finally, they got the snake free. But the snake wasn’t so eager to leave and tried to go back into the appliance.

“That’s where I grabbed it and escorted it off property,” Tim said. “And noticed it had a nice bulge in its stomach. And we never found the missing socks.”

Tim believed the unwelcomed creature was a king snake, about five to six feet long, that had taken up residence inside of the appliance. However, others have speculated that it was a rat snake.

While there was some debate about the type of snake, both are common in North America, according to Brittanica. They’re both nonvenomous constrictor with a diet that consists of rodents, birds, and possibly, Bombas socks.

“That’s either my wife’s socks or it ate something before it came into the house,” Tim said.

The working theory is that the snake crawled through the dryer vent for nearly 25 feet, from the outside into the dryer. Once the snake was removed, the dryer worked just fine, he said.

As the video showed, Tim wasn’t afraid to grab the slithery serpent. He safely transported the snake away from its residence in the dryer. Even though the snake is gone, it is a memory that won’t be leaving the Jones family anytime soon.