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HUDSON REPORTER (New Jersey) 12 December 04 Four-foot python found in box with DVD! (Nicholas J. Zitelli)
Photo at URL below: How'd He Fit? - NJ Pets store employee Megan Zayatz holds up a stretched out Paco. Almost four feet in length and about as thick as a garden hose, its easy to see how Paco was able to stow away in a DVD player box.
This is the story of Paco, a four-foot-long ball python from Jefferson City, MO.
This is the story of how Paco journeyed alone, 1,078 miles from home, and ended up in Secaucus, N.J. - a trip that took him less than a week to complete.
This is the story of one snake and his quest to return home.
In the beginning
It all started one evening in early November with a faulty DVD player. Sheila Himmerick and her 17-year old son, Rusty Wolfe, of Missouri, couldn't figure out why their brand new Samsung DVD player wouldn't work. First the DVD got stuck inside. Then, once it finally opened, the disc holder would not close.
Since it was still under warranty, Himmerick called Samsung about getting a replacement. As is standard protocol, Samsung directed Himmerick to carefully re-package the player and have it shipped to their repair facility, CVE Incorporated, on Seaview Drive in Secaucus.
Because the problem was not Himmerick's fault, Samsung offered to pay for the shipping costs to New Jersey and told her they would send her a UPS packing label for the shipment.
"I wasn't sure if I should seal the box totally just yet," said Himmerick. "I wanted to wait for the label and see if it had further instructions for shipping."
Himmerick placed the DVD player in its original box with the raised Styrofoam sleeves, re-covered the unit with Styrofoam peanuts, and left the parcel on the floor, unsealed and awaiting its ticket.
Enter Paco
Paco came to Rusty as a baby snake three years ago, and immediately had a penchant for mischief.
Active and friendly, Paco was notorious for "snaking" his way out of his cage and moving stealthily through the house. Because Himmerick raised a home of animal lovers, it was easy for Paco to get lost among the various family pets - three horses, five cats, two birds, three dogs and a rabbit - but Paco's presence was never ominous as one might think. There was never worry that a bird or cat might disappear (let alone Paco), so Paco had free-range until he could be found and placed back in his cage.
But as Paco grew older, he got bigger and stronger. And soon he was disappearing on a regular basis. "He can easily get out his cage now," said Rusty, "and that's with all kinds of stuff on top of it!"
In his most recent escapade, Paco pulled a classic Houdini, suddenly vanishing, never to be seen again - in Missouri.
The act
Paco was last seen in Rusty's bedroom, just out of his cage. The next thing the family knew, a month had passed and still no Paco. Himmerick ordered Rusty to pick up his room and clean out his closet.
"We thought nothing of it," said Himmerick. "He had been out of his cage for about a month, but I knew he'd turn up eventually."
And turn up he did. Just as the family was starting to get perplexed, Himmerick received a phone call at her home while she was at work. It was a message from Samsung's repair unit, CVE Incorporated in Secaucus, just eight short miles from the Big Apple.
Phone calls seeking comment from representatives of CVE Inc. were not returned last week.
"I thought it was very weird that they were calling to tell me they had received the DVD player for repair," said Himmerick. "So I called them back right away to see what they had to say."
What the folks at CVE Inc. wanted to know was whether or not Ms. Himmerick was "a disgruntled customer."
Still confused, Himmerick asked if they could fix the DVD player. The answer was simple: Yes, but only if you come get your python out of the box first.
"I was hoping he was ridding the house of rodents, not sneaking off to New York City!" said Himmerick.
Are you serious?
Before Himmerick was even contacted, certain actions had to be taken. First, the folks at CVE, Inc. called the Secaucus Animal Control Shelter, who dispatched Animal Control Officers Nancy Minervini and Kevin Kessler to the scene.
Then the Secaucus police were summoned because it is illegal to send livestock through the mail unless properly authorized and correctly shipped. A DVD box did not qualify. Additionally, it might be construed as threatening or harassment to send a four-foot ball python if you're "disgruntled."
But after contacting Himmerick in Jefferson City, Mo., authorities deemed Himmerick harmless and the incident purely accidental. The animal control officials had some doubts, though. The box, being as small and tightly packed as it was, seemed inaccessible for Paco to enter alone.
"I'm just so embarrassed," said Himmerick last week. "I still don't know how I could not have seen him in there. I think he slid under the DVD player and had buried himself under all the [Styrofoam] peanuts."
In fact, the weight of Paco, estimated to be only four or five pounds, would be hard to detect even upon lifting the parcel.
"He loves to move around when its quiet and no one's around," said Himmerick. "There's no way we could have caught him red-handed sneaking into that box."
After some investigating and after Paco was removed from the box, Secaucus animal control officers took Paco to a nearby pet store to care for him until a solution could be figured out.
Some sources familiar with the case in Secaucus had theories about the incident.
"Maybe the mother is covering up for her son?" said a Secaucus resident who asked not to be named, but was at the animal control facility when Paco was taken away.
Said Himmerick, "A prank is taking a snake from our back yard and putting it the box. A prank is not sending our Paco cross-country!"
How will it end?
Currently, Paco resides at NJ Pets on Route 3 in Clifton, N.J., and is doing very well. At first it was reported that poor Paco was depressed, in shock and banged up. Indeed, a five-day sojourn of over 1,000 miles of bumpy road through five states, being tossed from one tractor trailer to another and with a radical drop in temperature, all inside a 2x 2-foot box could make any snake a little grumpy.
"The only good news that I got when they called was that [Paco] had shed some skin in the box," said Himmerick. "That's usually a sign that they're growing and that he probably liked rubbing up against the Styrofoam."
But a visit to Paco last week found the coiled creature in good spirits, sticking his tongue out occasionally, in mocking fashion, as if to say "I told 'em I'd make it here one day."
Himmerick and Rusty, still back home in Missouri, are a bit distraught, though happy Paco is alive and well. The new problem is getting Paco home. Shipping livestock can be costly.
"Now that I know he is really okay and doing much better, I feel a bit relieved," said Himmerick. "But with the expenses of the holiday season and raising my family alone, I don't know what we can do right now."
According to Kristen Zliceski, an employee at NJ Pets where Paco is temporarily lodged, there has been a lot of interest on the part of customers to purchase Paco, though the store is not putting him up for sale.
"A snake like [Paco] will go for $200 in the malls, but we usually sell them for closer to $80," said Megan Zayatz, another NJ Pet store employee.
"We've already fed him one mouse," said Zliceski, "and we've been calling him 'Best Buy' because that's where we heard he originally came from - a DVD player from Best Buy."
Himmerick had been awaiting word from the Animal Humane Society as to the whereabouts and condition of Paco, but heard nothing until she was contacted for this story. Now that she has the information of Paco's new abode, she plans to contact the store to see what, if any, arrangements can be made to get him home to Missouri.
Employees at the pet store said that usually shipping costs for pets can get very pricey. Himmerick sadly acknowledged that she may have to let the store find a new home for her beloved Paco.
As the song goes, "if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere." Now the question is, can Paco make it home?
Four-foot python found in box with DVD!

Poor Paco!

I hope he finds his way back home.