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TIMES COLONIST (Victoria, British Columbia) 29 September 06 'Very excited' Saanich man finds python in his bathroom
(Sandra McCulloch)
A 28-year-old Saanich man who got out of bed to use the bathroom early yesterday morning was in for a surprise -- he found a snake as long as his arm on the toilet seat.
"He was very excited when he phoned us," said Sgt. John Price of Saanich police.
The police were equally surprised to get his call. "We didn't have anything in our policy manual [on what to do]. Nobody has ever dealt with it before," Price said.
The Saanich officers dispatched to the man's basement suite in the 4400-block of Tremblay Drive put the snake, a ball python, in a pillow case. Not being snake experts, they "Googled" for one, and found Morgan York.
She runs a snake-rescue organization called Snakes in the Grass, and lives only a couple of blocks away.
The police dropped the snake off with York, who already has two of the reptiles living with her. She suggests the snake is a year and a half old.
Ball pythons are not venomous; they eat prey like rodents and rabbits after they wrap their bodies around them.
"They make very good pets because they're so tame," said York.
It was unclear who owns the snake or how it got into the man's apartment.
"It could have come through an open door, could have come in through an open window and climbed," York said.
It's not likely to get in through the toilet itself "unless they had some open pipes. It has happened, but I don't know how the Saanich sewer system works."
The police hope the snake's owner comes forward to claim it.
"They certainly would be able to shed some light on how the snake escaped or where it was last seen," Price said.
http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=c333e01e-d78f-4473-8b4a-8825fab3da1b&k=73559
THE PROVINCE (Vancouver, British Columbia) 29 September 06 Snake slithers into home: 60-cm python wanted to get in from the cold (Ian Austin)
Snakes alive!
A hapless Saanich basement-suite dweller got the shock of his life early yesterday.
"We got a 911 call at 12:01 a.m.," said Saanich police Sgt. John Price. "The 28-year-old man was getting ready for bed when he spotted a python in his bathroom.
"We sent two officers."
Capturing the snake became a question of seniority.
"If seniority was ever going to play a role in a call, this was it," said Price. "The senior officer told the junior officer, 'You grab the snake, I'll grab the pillowcase.'"
Having bagged the slithery intruder, the two boys in blue had to plan what next to do.
"We Googled 'snake rescue,' and, sure enough, we found someone," said Price.
Enter Morgan York, who runs Snake in the Grass, a snake rescue, education and adoption service in neighbouring Victoria.
"The police called me about 12:30 on my emergency cellphone," she said. "They were concerned."
The two cops took their bundle to York, who figures the python is an escaped pet coming in from the cold.
"It's been warm up until now, but the nights are getting cold," said York of the ball python, native to tropical Africa. "Snakes don't have any way of generating heat, so at this time of year they're trying to find warmth.
"The snake was really, really cold."
The unlucky suite dweller can take cold comfort from York's prognosis about the non-venomous python, which could have quite happily spent the warm summer as a fellow full-time resident out of sight.
"It could have been in that house for months."
York, who will hang on to the 60-centimetre, 18-month-old snake until its owner turns up, said she's always been fascinated by snakes.
"Snakes are my thing -- they're different," said York, whose website is snakeinthegrass.org.
"They're very intriguing. Every species is different -- each one has its own personality.
"And how the heck do they move without legs?"
