A rattlesnake in a toilet is high up on anyone’s list of living nightmares, but for one family in Abilene, Texas, there was a bit more to worry about it.

That’s because there were 23 more snakes hiding beneath their home—a family of their own, perhaps, that, until they were discovered last week, might have just been trying to get along. 

The first snake was found by four-year-old Isaac McFadden, who spotted it while he “was starting his day as usual, by going to the restroom,” according to KXVA.

He told his mother, Cassie McFadden, who promptly texted her husband Jason.

“What the crap do I do?” She wrote, according to the Washington Post. 

“Oh my gosh!” Jason replied. “Kill it. Get yard tools from the shed.”

Which is exactly what Cassie did, with the help of a garden hoe, shovel, and branch cutters, according to the Post. 

What happened next was a bit more horrifying, after a snake removal service came to the McFaddens’ home for further inspections. Big Country Snake Removal found 23 more rattlesnakes, posting their findings on Facebook, in part as trophies, part cautionary tale. 

One or two people in Texas die each year from venomous snake bites, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services, suggesting that humans’ fear of the slithery animals might be a bit overstated.

Still, for Isaac and his brothers, the lesson of this latest toilet snake was simple. 

“If you find a snake, go get an adult,” they told KXVA.