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Snake slithers into home
60-cm python wanted to get in from the cold

Ian Austin, The Province
Published: Friday, September 29, 2006

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?"