LONDON, Ont.
— A ball python spotted last month slithering through a residential neighbourhood in London, Ont., managed to elude authorities for weeks, but police said the reptile has finally been captured.
The sneaky snake, which measures 1 1/2 metres long, was discovered Thursday night in a backyard on Avalon Street, curled up inside a tire.
“This one certainly was not a danger to the public, although when people do adopt these animals and they do get large, they need to keep that into consideration,” said Kent Lattanzio, the director of operations for the London Animal Care Centre.
A police officer who first spotted the snake on July 24 after responding to a complaint thought it might be a python.
But animal control officers said they had received a call about a missing red-tailed boa constrictor.
After finally seeing the snake, Lattanzio said it appeared to be a ball python.
A ball python is a non-venomous species. The snake gets its name because of its tendency to curl into a ball.
Lattanzio said the tip about the boa was either false or a mistake.
“Even if this was his snake, maybe he didn’t know the breed properly. There’s all kinds of scenarios,” said Lattanzio, as he tried to explain the confusion behind properly identifying the snake.
London police said the python caught was likely the one which has been on the lam for weeks.
“We believe this was the actual snake we were looking for in July,” said Const. Dennis Rivest.
In London, bylaws prevent people from owning snakes larger than 60 centimetres.
Rivest said on Friday that an officer is trying to track down the person who made the report of a missing boa constrictor.