AUGUSTA CHRONICLE (Georgia) 08 February 03 Man forgets snake in hotel room (Matthew Boedy)

Aiken: Rita Mistry thought she was just cleaning up after another customer.

On Thursday she walked into a room at the Royal Inn on Richland Avenue and saw a pillow case on the floor and bent over to pick it up.

"I said, 'Hey if it is that heavy, what could it be,"' she said. "Then it started moving."

Inside the tied-up pillow case was an 8-foot, 25-pound yellow-and-white Burmese python.

Darryl Victoria, 25, of San Angela, Texas, had left the room early Thursday morning in a rush to run an errand in Aiken. He didn't make it back for the 10:30 a.m. checkout time.

Ms. Mistry thought Mr. Victoria had left and went to tidy up the room. Mr. Victoria returned about noon and found that animal control officers from the Aiken Department of Public Safety had taken the snake.

"It was a total accident," Mr. Victoria said of leaving the snake in the room.

He has owned the snake for about five months. He said he bought it in a Greenville, S.C., flea market and now it goes everywhere with him.

Eventually police returned the snake to Mr. Victoria with the admonition that he tell future hotels clerks of his pet.

"I am ecstatic to have it back," Mr. Victoria said. "It's not like I was trying to lose it."




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Man forgets snake in hotel room

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• GA Press: Man forgets snake in hotel room - W von Papineäu, Sat Feb 8 07:59:39 2003