Florida man bitten by python hiding in toilet
FILE: Ball pythons are one of the most popular nonnative snakes in the pet trade. While they can be confused with Burmese pythons, adult ball pythons rarely grow longer than 4 feet. (Photo courtesy Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission)
CORAL SPRINGS, Fla. (FOX 35 ORLANDO) - A man in Coral Springs got the bite of his life after finding a python in his bathroom Sunday morning.
According to the Coral Springs Humane Unit, officers were called around 4:00 a.m. to a home on Riverside Drive after a resident found the unwelcome, slithery guest trying to either enter or exit his toilet! At some point, he was bitten in the arm by the python.
Officers identified the snake to be a nonvenomous Ball Python. It was caught and later transferred to a reptile center. The man was taken to a hospital and treated for the snake bite.
Ball pythons are one of the most popular nonnative snakes in the pet trade, according to the Florida Fish & Wildlife Convervation Commission (FWC). While they can be confused with Burmese pythons, adult ball pythons rarely grow longer than 4 feet. Although ball pythons have been found in the wild, there are no known reproducing populations, FWC says.
Officer Chris Swinson tells Coral Springs Talk that the python could have belonged to former tenants and somehow got loose, sneaking into the plumbing system.
“It’s everybody’s worst nightmare,” said Swinson, “but it’s in an apartment plumbing system, so there are many possibilities.”
Editor's note: This story has been updated to include a corrected file photograph of the type of snake referred to in the article. A previous version of this story included an accompanying picture of a Burmese python and not a ball python.