A runaway reptile took sanctuary in a Forest neighborhood Thursday morning, first introducing itself to residents out on a morning stroll.
Melanie Roberts, who was walking with a friend near her home off Hawkins Mill Road, noticed the 8-foot-long boa constrictor about 9:15 a.m.
"It was humungous. We just couldn't believe our eyes," said Roberts.
The reptile, she said, slithered into a neighbor's yard, where Roberts said she feared for the neighbor's two Yorkshire Terriers.
"He would have them for a snack," she said.
It ended up in a pine tree in the yard. Roberts said her Bassett hound got way too close.
"It was really, actually pretty, as long as it was out of the grass and away from the yard," she said.
Roberts said she kept her eye on the snake and called the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, in part to keep the snake safe from others who might come across it.
"I knew it had to be someone's pet ... and I knew that somebody was probably going to shoot it," she said.
After conservation police officers helped to remove it from the tree, the boa was sent to Pet and Aquatic Warehouse on Wards Road, where reptile supervisor Heather Hargis said it has been a big hit among the store's staff.
"Everybody's been coming back and taking it out and holding it," she said.
And judging by the snake's health and disposition, Hargis said it has obviously been a well cared-for pet, and probably escaped from its home.
"It's definitely domesticated. It's really sweet," she said.
Hargis said the store plans to keep the boa for at least a week, to see if anyone comes forward to claim it, but she said all had been quiet Thursday.
"We haven't even had any phone calls," she said.
Roberts said it would be a surprise to her if someone in her area owned the snake.
"We couldn't think of who around here would have a snake," she said. "You don't expect to see something like that in North America, crawling around in the neighborhood."
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