Over a week ago, a pet python escaped in a Houston neighborhood and has not been found. The python is 12 feet long, WRAL reported. Authorities have searched for the pet snake, but have not had any success finding it. They have put snake repellent around the areas where the animal was spotted.
Nic Louie, owner of Houston Underground Animals and a snake expert, told WRAL that the escaped pet is a carpet python. It is not venomous, and Louie said these snakes are not usually aggressive.
“This is definitely a pet snake someone either lost or released,” he said.
Louie urged anyone who sees the python to contact proper authorities rather than try and handle it on his own.
“It’s been free, it’s been out of the cage,” he told WRAL. “If you’re just a regular person I would not suggest going and grabbing it.”
Louie added that small pets could also be at risk, as the loose snake could see them as food.
“If it’s sitting there, and someone’s pet runs in front, it’s going to think it’s food. But it’s not mean, it’s just going to be hungry and think someone’s feeding it,” he said.
A resident of the Houston neighborhood, Clayton Lee, told WRAL that the python still being out there has put him, and others, on edge. “I was told they came out, they searched for the snake, were unsuccessful in finding the snake, then put snake repellent on the 15 units that were closest to where it was spotted a few nights [ago],” Lee said.
He added that he was worried for his own pet, a 19-year-old cat named Dillon.
Earlier in October, a resident of another Texas city also had a run-in with an escaped python, KSAT reported. A woman in Universal City contacted the police about what she thought was a rattlesnake that had managed to get into her home. Officer Hector Luevano was dispatched and found that it was not actually a rattlesnake, but a python. The officer believed it came from a nearby pet store, called Polly’s Pets.
Carpenter pythons, like the one loose in the Houston neighborhood, can reach between six and 12 feet long as adults. They can reach up to 20 years old when found in the wild, but their life expectancy lengthens when kept in captivity.
Wild carpenter pythons can be found in New Guinea and Australia, according to the official SeaWorld website. However, they can be found as pets around the world.
