Terrified New Hampshire woman finds enormous python in her toilet
A New Hampshire woman had a terrifying surprise this week when she walked into her bathroom and found a five-foot-long python making itself at home.
The incident unfolded on Monday inside an apartment in Derry, prompting the resident to immediately call police for help.
Responding officers located the massive ball python in the bathroom and managed to safely capture it in a plastic tote.
While the python was described by police as 'docile, friendly, and clearly someone's pet,' they admitted it was an unnerving experience for several officers.
Authorities canvassed neighboring units in an attempt to identify the owner.
The python was handed off to Derry Animal Control, then transferred to a humane society that handles exotic animals, before being reunited with its owner.
One neighbor, Chuck Van Coppenolle, who lives directly below the unit where the python was found, told WMUR he was rattled by the discovery.
'I'd be definitely scared of that. A snake like that — I don't even like the little ones, never mind the big ones like that,' he said.
A five-foot ball python was found in a woman’s bathroom in New Hampshire
The snake was spotted slithering around the base of the toilet in a Derry apartment
A cat owner, Van Coppenolle feared for his pet's safety.
He said: '[The police] wanted to make sure before they did anything that it wasn't my pet. First of all, I wouldn't have any snake as a pet, and I definitely wouldn't have a python.
'Even if it's friendly, it can cause a lot of problems. I'm glad they got rid of it.'
Authorities are still unsure how the animal got into the apartment - but snake expert Kevin McCurley, who owns New England Reptile Distributors in Plaistow, said the plumbing may be to blame.
'It's a possibility that that ball python could actually go down the toilet, go down into the waterways, so it only has to hold its breath for a little period of time,' he told WMUR.
The python in question is a ball python, one of the most common pet snakes, according to RodentPro.
These non-venomous constrictors typically reach three to five feet in length and are known for their calm and gentle nature.
Snakes appearing in toilets may sound like a nightmare scenario, but it happens more often than you'd think - especially in the southern US.
In December, a woman in Texas was bitten after unknowingly sitting on a toilet where a snake was hiding.
Just one month earlier, another woman in South Carolina found a python coiled behind her toilet, sending her fleeing from the bathroom.
