8-Foot Python Found In NJ Backyard

FREEHOLD, NJ — The Monmouth County SPCA said it was a "can you repeat that?" kind of call when their animal control team got a notification about a massive, non-native snake in a Freehold resident's backyard.

When the snake hid himself under the floor of a shed, the SPCA said a local contractor jumped in to help remove the floorboards so authorities could help get the snake out.

Subscribe

Once the floorboards were removed, the SPCA's trained Animal Control Officer got to work and gently unwound the snake to avoid injury to him and to the workers responding to the incident.

Once the python was freed and taken to the Monmouth County SPCA for safekeeping, X-rays showed that he had eaten a large possum.

The snake was measured to be about eight feet and 40 lbs. (after his meal).

The SPCA cleaned him up, put him in a secure tank, and reached out to Fins & Feathers, an independently owned and operated pet store in Red Bank.

"A snake expert with the proper reptile permits and housing will keep this guy safe, and if no permitted owner comes forward, the snake will have a happy home for life!" the SPCA said.

Video of the snake rescue can be seen here.

The SPCA is reminding residents that exotic pets DO NOT belong in the wild, as releasing them harms local wildlife, domestic pets and the exotic animal itself.

"If you can no longer care for a reptile, please reach out to a local rescue or shelter instead," the SPCA said.