(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-04-11 10:38

ROCHESTER, Wash. -- Authorities say a woman has been found living with hundreds of rats and four malnourished snakes in a home outside Rochester.

Thurston County Animal Services Director Susanne Beauregard says an official from the Area Agency on Aging alerted authorities about a month ago, but the woman has been uncooperative. She says the woman calls the rats her friends.

On Wednesday a search warrant was obtained and officers found the floor covered with rat droppings and the carpets soggy with rat urine. Beauregard says two malnourished boa constrictors, a corn snake and a king snake were seized from cages.

Investigators believe the woman bought some rats to feed the boa constrictors, but they got loose and filled the house with their offspring.