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NBC 10 (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) 24 August 06 Python Snakes Into Jersey Back Yard - Owner Of Burmese Python Unknown
Lacey Township, N.J.: There is a huge, slithering mystery in South Jersey.
A 10-foot-long python showed up unexpectedly in someone's driveway in Lacey Township.
Burmese pythons aren't supposed to be found in the wild in South Jersey, so you can imagine one family's surprise when one showed up outside their house.
The python was so big that it stretched from one side of Amber Bardi's driveway to the other.
Amber, 15, said that last Tuesday she heard her father frantically call from outside the house.
"(He said), 'Holy crap, there's a snake in our yard,'" Amber said.
"It was kind of a shocker. Nobody on this street has snakes, as far as we know, so we don't know where it came from," Amber said.
Amber called animal control and her father helped to corral the huge snake, which is not poisonous.
"It went towards the back, so they put the garbage can there and it just kind of went in," Bardi said.
Exactly where the python used to live remains a mystery, but experts are pretty sure it once was someone's pet.
"They're not native to this area. Somebody apparently just let it go or it got loose," said Dewann McAllister of the Associated Humane Societies.
It is legal to own a Burmese python in New Jersey as long as you get a state permit. But the people at the shelter, who are now caring for the snake, said the snake can be a challenge.
"People don't realize how big these animals are going to get and what you're going to need to start feeding it when they get so large -- small rodents, rabbits, things like that is what this thing's probably been eating," said Melony Gilchrist of Associated Humane Societies.
The snake is now feasting at the shelter on frozen rats. If no one claims the reptile, it will probably spend the rest of its days at the Popcorn Park Zoo.
"It was just weird, creepy, because to think if it would get under your house, it would be hard to get out," Bardi said.
Anyone who knows who owns the snake should contact the shelter. The python is not available for adoption.
Python Snakes Into Jersey Back Yard
