Wildlife biologists in Illinois have found a new way to use a dual-chamber concrete septic tank: Snake storage.

Last fall, the planned demolition of an older home in Lindenhurst, north of Chicago, took away the winter home of 200 non-poisonous snakes that slithered into its basement from nearby marshes. According to news accounts, members of the Western Fox Snake Relocation Project and staff members of the Lake County Forest Preserve District caught, tagged and released about 50 of the snakes migrating to the house.

Later, the group went back to the marsh and found as many of the snakes as they could, then took them to a makeshift underground habitat, or “hibernaculum,’’ an unused septic tank outfitted with plywood shelving where the snakes would be safe from freezing temperatures.

Michael Corn, a retired biology professor involved in the project, told the Associated Press that while the snakes weren’t endangered species, they serve a valuable purpose. “Certainly the snakes keep the population of small rodents down, but more than that, they are one piece of the ecosystem. If you keep taking away the pieces, at some point the thing falls apart,” Corn explained.

The story leaves me with two questions for the pumping community: 1. Have you turned up any wildlife when servicing a septic tank? 2. Have you ever seen someone recycle a septic tank for another purpose? Respond to editor@pumper.com.