diff --git a/dbt/adapters/snowflake/impl.py b/dbt/adapters/snowflake/impl.py
index 37e27dcb2..6c726eadc 100644
--- a/dbt/adapters/snowflake/impl.py
+++ b/dbt/adapters/snowflake/impl.py
@@ -3,7 +3,10 @@
 import agate
 
 from dbt.adapters.sql import SQLAdapter
-from dbt.adapters.sql.impl import LIST_SCHEMAS_MACRO_NAME
+from dbt.adapters.sql.impl import (
+    LIST_SCHEMAS_MACRO_NAME,
+    LIST_RELATIONS_MACRO_NAME,
+)
 from dbt.adapters.snowflake import SnowflakeConnectionManager
 from dbt.adapters.snowflake import SnowflakeRelation
 from dbt.adapters.snowflake import SnowflakeColumn
@@ -99,3 +102,43 @@ def list_schemas(self, database: str) -> List[str]:
         # want is 'name'
 
         return [row['name'] for row in results]
+
+    def list_relations_without_caching(
+            self, information_schema, schema
+    ) -> List[SnowflakeRelation]:
+        kwargs = {'information_schema': information_schema, 'schema': schema}
+        try:
+            results = self.execute_macro(
+                LIST_RELATIONS_MACRO_NAME,
+                kwargs=kwargs
+            )
+        except DatabaseException as exc:
+            # if the schema doesn't exist, we just want to return.
+            # Alternatively, we could query the list of schemas before we start
+            # and skip listing the missing ones, which sounds expensive.
+            if 'Object does not exist' in str(exc):
+                return []
+            raise
+
+        relations = []
+        quote_policy = {
+            'database': True,
+            'schema': True,
+            'identifier': True
+        }
+
+        columns = ['database_name', 'schema_name', 'name', 'kind']
+        for _database, _schema, _identifier, _type in results.select(columns):
+            try:
+                _type = self.Relation.get_relation_type(_type.lower())
+            except ValueError:
+                _type = self.Relation.External
+            relations.append(self.Relation.create(
+                database=_database,
+                schema=_schema,
+                identifier=_identifier,
+                quote_policy=quote_policy,
+                type=_type
+            ))
+
+        return relations
diff --git a/dbt/include/snowflake/macros/adapters.sql b/dbt/include/snowflake/macros/adapters.sql
index 9d051c4e3..38296ec95 100644
--- a/dbt/include/snowflake/macros/adapters.sql
+++ b/dbt/include/snowflake/macros/adapters.sql
@@ -99,22 +99,22 @@
 
 
 {% macro snowflake__list_relations_without_caching(information_schema, schema) %}
-  {% call statement('list_relations_without_caching', fetch_result=True) -%}
-    select
-      table_catalog as database,
-      table_name as name,
-      table_schema as schema,
-      case when table_type = 'BASE TABLE' then 'table'
-           when table_type = 'VIEW' then 'view'
-           when table_type = 'MATERIALIZED VIEW' then 'materializedview'
-           when table_type = 'EXTERNAL TABLE' then 'external'
-           else table_type
-      end as table_type
-    from {{ information_schema }}.tables
-    where table_schema ilike '{{ schema }}'
-      and table_catalog ilike '{{ information_schema.database.lower() }}'
-  {% endcall %}
-  {{ return(load_result('list_relations_without_caching').table) }}
+  {%- set db_name = adapter.quote_as_configured(information_schema.database, 'database') -%}
+  {%- set schema_name = adapter.quote_as_configured(schema, 'schema') -%}
+  {%- set sql -%}
+    show terse objects in {{ db_name }}.{{ schema_name }}
+  {%- endset -%}
+
+  {%- set result = run_query(sql) -%}
+  {% set maximum = 10000 %}
+  {% if (result | length) >= maximum %}
+    {% set msg %}
+      Too many schemas in schema {{ database }}.{{ schema }}! dbt can only get
+      information about schemas with fewer than {{ maximum }} objects.
+    {% endset %}
+    {% do exceptions.raise_compiler_error(msg) %}
+  {% endif %}
+  {%- do return(result) -%}
 {% endmacro %}