We had a rather interesting day early last week, and it was one of those puzzling, odd stories I knew I wanted to share with you.
I had gotten up that morning, and was on my laptop, checking Facebook (duh). Our neighborhood has a private Facebook group, so I happened to check it, and the first post I read was someone saying that everyone needed to be careful, and that there was a fairly large snake in a driveway…and then they gave the house and street number….which happened to be my next door neighbors.
Naturally, I flipped out because I hate snakes, and when I saw the post had just gone up a few minutes before, I yelled for Bobby to run next door and go see if the snake was still there. He walked next door, and was gone for a few minutes. I thought for sure that meant he didn’t find it and was looking for it. Great.
He finally comes back, holding a big black trash bag which he then puts in our trash can. Oooookkkkk….He came in the house and told me that he found the snake, that it was still in the neighbor’s driveway, and was already dead. The neighbor came out with a trash bag and Bobby put it in and took it away because my poor neighbor, she was not thrilled with the idea of having to get rid of said snake on her own.
This is where it gets interesting: Living in Mississippi kind of out in the woods, we have seen many different kinds of snakes. I asked Bobby what kind it was and he said he was stumped and really wasn’t sure, but that it was really thick and probably over three and a half feet long. Huh. Ok. I didn’t think too much about it at that point, except that it grossed me out that he was in my trash can in the garage.
I went back on the Facebook page to tell everyone not to worry, that Bobby had taken care of it, and my neighbor had posted a picture of the snake that she had taken earlier. It was HUGE, way thicker than any wild snake I had ever seen. About that time, one of our other neighbors posted on the page that he is very familiar with snakes and that this one was NOT any old snake, he believed it was a python…..like a pet.
He did some research and told us he was 99% sure it was a Burmese python. These babies grow up to seven feet in their first year and can get up to eighteen feet long! He also learned there is up to a $500,000 fine for releasing one, and up to seven years in jail. So, what we are guessing is that someone bought a pet snake, it outgrew it’s cage, and they let it go.
THERE WAS A PYTHON NEXT DOOR PEOPLE! It could have been in my yard, where my tiny poodle runs around, and where my tiny human plays. Ugh! Gross. This said neighbor wanted to measure the snake and such, so that afternoon he came and got him out of my trash can. Turns out he was FOUR FEET long, so probably still a baby. Clearly something happened it, as there was a small trail of blood in the driveway, but my neighbor said his head was not rolled over.
The next day, another neighbor said he was talking to the newspaper delivery guy that comes through before 5 am, and the delivery guy said he ran over a snake on my street the other day but was too scared to get out in the dark and go look for it. Mystery solved! So a python was slithering across the street, and the only car going down the street before 5:00 in the morning happened to come at just the right time and injured the snake. He was able to make it over to the sidewalk where he died.
I told Bobby never did I think I would say the phrase “sure, you can have the dead four foot python out of my trash can” to a neighbor. Let’s hope this irresponsible owner only had one pet snake!
QOTD: any bizarre snake or animal stories to share?
Oh my goodness! What a crazy story! I do NOT like snakes! They scare me! I do understand the importance of the non venomous ones…but it doesn’t mean I want them near me or in my space! Gross! I can’t believe how thick that snake is!
I’m not scared of snakes, but I’m not thrilled with them either. We have gators in Lake Lewisville because of the same type of story. Some dumb person gets a baby gator, gets overwhelmed as it grows, and just releases it into a lake, where people swim!
It’s a Nope Snake. Nope nope nope.
Kill it with fire, again! Just to make sure!!!
I had a very hilarious morning actually. I woke up to this very loud sound and thought something was wrong with the cat. But when I saw her at the end of the bed freaked out I thought I better go check on my husband. He had just got home from work and when I came out he yelled THERE ARE COWS IN THE YARD. no joke 9 cows 3 with horns were mooing up a storm in the yard. Now we live in the woods and see animals all the time but not a herd of cattle. We not have a well fertilized yard and driveway thanks to them!
i would burn it. that would creep me out. I couldn’t even have it in my garbage can
ahhhh that is terrifying! I had a 12 foot black snake by my garage door, which I didnt see until it slithered into my garage. I sat in my car for 15 minutes debating how I was going to get into my house. I hate snakes 😛
This is a Ball Python, not a Burmese. They are actually quite common as pets (and not illegal). We used to have one .. my husband is a veterinarian that loves exotic animals! 4-5 ft. long is a pretty average size for a full-grown one, which this one probably was. While I definitely don’t love snakes out in the wild, they really aren’t too bad as pets, as long as someone else feeds them!
I don’t care if someone has it as a pet, totally up to them, but releasing it in my neighborhood is definitely not ok haha.
I would die if my husband wanted a pet snake!
I HATE snakes. When I came home one weekend and my parents were gone, I thought my nephew left a rubber snake in the living room…. Nope. I realized it was real when it “smiled” at me. I had to wait over an hour…sitting on our dining room table…watching it slither around my living room. When my husband (then boyfriend) arrived, it had hunkered down in the recliner. He lost 10 years with me that day.
OH MY GOSH! In your living room?!? Any idea how it got in? I would have cried.
The house was built in the woods by a creek and had double doors in the basement that had a gap between them. They still get snakes in the garage, but no more have ever made it in the house. That was 22 years ago and I STILL get the eeby jeebies thinking about it
So scary!!
Near where my mom’s work is where a king cobra pet snake got loose. They have yet to find it..