6-foot-long snake fished out of Meyers Lake

Suzi Spotleson used to swim off her dock at Meyers Lake. After Monday night, she isn’t sure she will continue.

Not after looking out of the window above her kitchen sink and seeing something floating in the water.

It was about 6:15 p.m. Monday when Spotleson went outside to investigate. What she found was a 6-foot-long snake she believed was a python — turns out it was a boa constrictor.

“When I first saw it, I thought it was a turtle,” she said, surprised by the find. “Then, I went down to investigate.”

Fortunately, the snake was dead by the time it reached her home. Neighbor Kent Smith used a net to fish it out of the water.

State wildlife officials say it likely is an abandoned pet, since such large snakes aren’t indigenous to northeastern Ohio.

“Considering it is not native to Ohio, if it was a python, I would assume it was a pet,” said Jamey Graham, a spokesperson for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. “Pythons just could not survive (on their own) our winters.”

Neither could boa constrictors, said Stephon Echague, wildlife rehabilitation supervisor for the Stark County Park District Sanders Wildlife Rehabilitation Centers, who identified the snake from a photo.

“This is a boa constrictor. It had to be someone’s pet. Boa constrictors are native to tropical areas and our night temps are too cold for them,” he wrote in an e-mail to The Rep. “It is possible that (the snake) was not able to digest his meal properly (which could kill him).”

Spotleson also believes it was someone’s pet that either got away on its own, or was set free because it probably got too big.

Surviving the shock of finding the snake in her own back yard, so to speak, Spotleson said there will be one major change in her lifestyle now.

“We swim in the lake right off the dock but now, I am not so sure I will go back in,” she said, noting that she has lived there since 2005.

“I’ve seen turtles, but this is like having a Loch Ness Monster in the lake. It is disturbing. I won’t be swimming in there for a few months, at least.”

If finding the snake Monday night wasn’t enough, at

2:30 a.m. Tuesday, lightning struck a tree in her yard, causing some of the bark to fall off, and some of her sod to detach.

“I’ve had snakes and lightning,” she said. “If it starts raining frogs, I’m moving!”