LONDON FREE PRESS (Ontario) 29 October 05 Woman finds snake in tub (Kate Dubinski)
It's the stuff of nightmares: waking up and finding a snake slithering around in your bathroom.
That's what happened early yesterday to a woman after a snake sneaked into her apartment in a three-storey building on McLarenwood Terrace.
"(She) woke up at approximately 3:44 a.m. when she heard items falling in her bathroom and found a large snake in her bathtub," London police spokesperson Const. Amanda Pfeffer said.
"It seems (the snake) came through under her door."
The reptile is about 1.3 metres (four feet) long -- about the length of a broom handle.
Aphrodite, the offending reptile, belongs to Ray Burns and his girlfriend Sally Gallant, who live a floor above the woman. The snake was a birthday present for Gallant.
"Police officers came to my door at around 4 a.m. because the manager had told them we own snakes, and asked if any were missing," Burns said.
"I guess it would be scary, at four in the morning and it's in your bathtub and you're not used to it."
Aphrodite, a four-year-old chocolate-phase eastern king snake, escaped from her cage sometime after midnight, Gallant said.
"I feel really bad," she said. "It must have been terrifying for (the woman)."
Animal Care and Control took the snake and handed it over to the Humane Society.
Animal Care and Control's investigation of the escape is ongoing, an official said.
The concern is the snake is longer than 0.6 metres, the maximum allowed under the city's exotic pet bylaw.
Burns paid $15 to the Humane Society to get Aphrodite back.
"This is the first time she's gotten out," he said.
"She's harmless. She's never bitten anyone."
Eastern king snakes are indigenous to the eastern United States. Burns paid $100 for his at a London pet store.
King snakes are constrictors, and mainly eat mice, but in the wild can feast on other snakes.
Aphrodite's cage now has a weight on it to prevent her from escaping again, and Burns said he plans to buy a sturdier lid.
Burns also owns two ball pythons and an African rock python.
In July, a St. Thomas couple woke up to find the same type of snake wrapped around their infant son's neck.
The infant had a small bite on his neck left by the non-venomous, black and white snake.
The snake had escaped from a neighbour's apartment.
King snakes kill their prey by looping around their victim and squeezing. Although they aren't poisonous, the snakes can be aggressive if provoked.
Woman finds snake in tub