WBBH (Fort Myers, Florida) 09 June 06 Brave burglar steals rare snakes (David Karsh)

Charlotte County: Four snakes worth thousands of dollars were stolen from the home of a snake breeder in Port Charlotte. One of the snakes taken is an albino python, which can grow to 20 feet long. The sheriff's office thinks this may be a tough case to crack.

Whoever broke into Zelph Ridgeway's home was incredibly brave or incredibly dumb.

Ridgeway loves snakes. His home is full of them. Despite having more than 600 snakes, he easily noticed when four recently disappeared.

"The sheriff's department finger printed things. They got some good prints off of it," said Ridgeway.

These aren't your garden variety reptiles. The snakes that were stolen are worth big bucks.

They were my future in the breeding business. It takes twenty years to breed to that level to have this quality of animals. I paid $15,000 for those types of snakes," said Ridgeway.

The thieves got away with some of the most rare snakes in the world, including an albino python.

Unfortunately tracking the missing reptiles down won't be easy.

"There is a big market out there for these types of animals and there is no way of tracking them. It's going to be a very difficult case, unless someone comes forward and says I did it," said Bob Carpenter of the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office.

It's amazing that anyone would consider breaking into Ridgeway's home. His backyard is guarded by gators and crocs. Inside, the parents of the missing snakes would easily overwhelm someone.

"This snake is 20 feet long. It eats pigs, goats, whatever it wants. It can definitely kill you," said Ridgeway.

That's a lesson that Ridgeway fears his snake thief may learn the hard way.

The four snakes are worth about $10,000.

Investigators are concerned the snakes will be sold on the internet.

Ridgeway says us he tracks his reptiles by DNA and could identify the stolen snakes if deputies catch the suspect.
Brave burglar steals rare snakes

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