animals

Python Slithers Into New Jersey Apartment, Hides Under Resident's Fridge

Ordinarily, a pet escaping its home and winding up in a neighbor's residence wouldn't be a big deal — except the pet in this instance was a 4-foot adult python.

NBC Universal, Inc. Brian Thompson reporting on the python that slithered underneath an apartment door.

A pet wandered down the hall of the New Jersey apartment building it called home and into the home of another resident.

Ordinarily, an escaped pet wouldn't be a big deal — except the pet in this instance was a 4-foot adult python, which was hiding under someone's fridge.

The snake was found inside an apartment in the Newport section of Jersey City, after it slithered down the hallway and through a roughly inch-and-a-half gap under a tenant's door. That happened on Saturday, when the building manager contacted police.

It wasn't found until Monday, when it was spotted camping out under the refrigerator.

The Liberty Humane Society described the reptile as a hybrid West African ball python, which they said is not dangerous to humans at all.

"This is a domestic pet snake who unfortunately found themselves in the wrong place and the wrong apartment," said Irene Borngraeber of the Liberty Humane Society.

By late morning, the python was brough to a shelter in Jersey City, where it will be cared for until its owner is found. If no owner comes forward, the snake will be put up for adoption.

"They have been one of those species, an exotic pet that have traveled the globe and are now routinely bred illegally in New Jersey as well as many other states in the U.S.," said Borngraeber.

The snakes are legal to own in New Jersey with a permit, though any venomous snake such as a copperhead or rattlesnake are illegal.

Despite not being harmful for humans, the python, which has been named Banana, put in quite the fright for those who live in the building.

"It makes me scared, I just run away," said Sunita Kapoor.

An eight-foot alligator was returned home after Texas Game Wardens discovered her living illegally in a house in Austin.
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