( CNN ) -- Neighbors had been complaining for a while about the dreadful smell coming from William Buchman 's house in Santa Ana , California . `` The stench is overwhelming , '' said Forest Long , Jr. , who lives nearby in the Orange County city . Long said friends were becoming reluctant to visit because of the nasty odor in the area . `` It smells like something 's dead , '' he told CNN affiliate KCAL/KCBS . The neighbors ' complaints prompted an investigation by the Department of Animal Services . And when authorities raided Buchman 's two-story house Wednesday , they discovered the cause of the putrid odor . Vast numbers of snakes -- some alive , most of them dead and decaying . In some cases , only the skins remained . Mice and rats were also in abundance . Acting on a search warrant , police and animal services officers wearing protective suits and masks searched the house , finding dirty rooms full of stacks of plastic bins containing pythons . Police said `` several hundred snakes '' were believed to be in Buchman 's home . In just one room , they found more than 50 dead pythons and seven live ones , KCAL/KCBS reported . `` They 're very cold and it appears that most of them have n't eaten in quite a while , '' Animal Services Cpl . Sondra Berg told the local broadcaster . `` There 's various stages of dying and dead and underweight . '' Police said Buchman , a 53-year-old teacher , has been arrested and booked on suspicion of animal cruelty . He has not yet appeared in court or been formally charged . CNN has not been able to determine whether Buchman has legal counsel , and has not yet been able to contact anyone representing him for comment . It was n't immediately clear why he had kept so many snakes in his house . 850 snakes part of New York man 's home business , authorities say . Snake shows up in Starbucks bathroom . 40 pythons seized from Ontario motel room . CNN 's Artemis Moshtaghian contributed to this report .
Neighbors had long complained about the smell coming from a house . Police find ` ` several hundred animals '' in the wild in Orange County . Some of them are alive , but most of them and dead and decaying . Police take a decades - old man into custody on suspicion of animal cruelty .