A juvenile ball python was recovering at an animal shelter Tuesday following an apparent sewer voyage that ended in a bathtub at a Golden Hill apartment.
A woman preparing to take a bath at her residence in the 3400 block of Beech Street was shocked to find the roughly foot-long reptile curled up around the drain on Thursday, according to the county Department of Animal Services.
When a DAS officer arrived to investigate, she discovered a second resident standing watch over the snake with a large stick in his hands, just in case, agency spokesman Dan DeSousa said.
The couple reported that their apartment had been fully secured prior to the surprise appearance of the snake.
Animal Services Officer DJ Gove, who responded to the call, said, "[I] don't want to say she was freaked out, but definitely not OK with the snake being in her bathroom."
Gove believes the snake is under three months old.
"It's our belief that he -- he or she, we don't know which sex it is -- came up through the drain," DeSousa said.
"I'm not a plumber, but I think it came through the drain. We do not have these in the wild, this was somebody's pet," said Gove.
The officer took custody of the snake, which was underweight and had some minor skin problems, and brought the reptile to the animal-services department's Gaines Street shelter. The python was expected to fully recover, according to DeSousa.
As of Tuesday evening, the reptile's ownership remained unknown, as the county agency has received no reports of a missing snake.
