CHULA VISTA, Calif. (KGTV) — A slithery surprise shocked a Chula Vista homeowner.
“This guy calls me, is pretty frantic and he's like, 'There's a snake in my couch,'” said Alex Trejo.
Trejo owns So-Cal Rattlesnake Removal and gets calls like that all the time, but even he was surprised by what he found.
“I literally lift the cushion and there this giant 7-foot Vietnamese blue beauty rat snake is just coiled up right behind the cushion.”
Trejo says the Vietnamese blue beauty rat snake is a rare find.
“You'd be more lucky to find a Rolex sitting on the ground than a snake like this.”
The breed can grow to be up to 8-feet-long, and the one discovered in the couch was almost there.
Wrangling a snake that big wasn’t easy, but Trejo says they aren't venomous just a bit defensive sometimes.
“He didn't get my skin, but he actually got the lining of my shirt.”
As for where this blue beauty came from -- that's still a mystery. The homeowner says it doesn’t belong to him.
Trejo tells ABC 10News it’s legal to keep this breed as a pet and believes this one most likely escaped from its owner.
The Vietnamese blue beauty rat snake thrives in tropical weather and being outside of a controlled climate for a few days took a toll. Trejo says it now has a respiratory infection.
“I have a very good friend who deals with these exotic animals and he's treating the snake right now. We really are keeping our fingers crossed hoping the snake makes it.”
As of Wednesday evening, the snake's owner hasn't come forward.
