“Someone yelled snake,” Kim Pepenella, freshman political science and communication major, said.
Late last week, Pepenella was in her dorm room in Xavier Hall when she heard someone shout. Snakes had been spotted coming from underneath the base board trim. A student down the hall found a snake in her room.
Pepenella said that she Googled the type of snake that was found in the dorm to find out if the snakes were poisonous or not. She found that they are not considered deadly and seem to be rather harmless.
Later on during the week, Pepenella said that her and her roommate kept smelling something rotten but didn’t know what it was. Pepenella’s calendar had been sitting on the floor after it kept falling off of the wall. Pepenella hadn’t felt like picking it up, but a few days after the snake incident, she got suspicious.
At first she thought what she was seeing was “a big worm” says Pepenella. She quickly realized that a snake had been rotting in her room, stuck on the tape that was used to hold up her calendar.
Akirah Massenburg, Residence Life Assistant Director, said in an email, “This is the first year I am hearing about snakes in the residence halls.” Massenburg explained that snakes are more prominent in this area because of Cabrini’s location in densely wooded areas. Massenburg said that facilities have been in Xavier to assess the situation and set up snake traps in the hallways.
Tiffany Phillips said that during her freshman year in 2012 when she resided in Xavier, she found a snake in her basement room as well. Her and her roommate found the snake in her closet when she went into look for her shoes. The roommates then called public safety. Akirah was an employee at the time.
During a phone conversation, Massenburg said that, “Students might have made it seem like a big deal but it isn’t as big as seems. We feel that there is nothing to report on.”
