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You expect to find a stray cat or maybe a family of raccoons under your backyard shed. You don't expect an eight-foot Burmese python.
That is exactly what Leslie and Edward Daley stumbled upon in Freehold, New Jersey. While watering her flowers, Leslie spotted a yellow snake sliding past her garden shed, its tail dragging a full eight feet behind it.
Let's be clear. Burmese pythons do not belong in New Jersey. They belong in the tropical marshes and rain forests of Southeast Asia. Finding one slithering through a suburban backyard means someone made a terrible choice, got bored of their exotic pet, and dumped it.
The Backyard Extraction
Getting the snake out wasn't a quick job. The 40-pound reptile immediately slinked beneath the floorboards of the shed. Animal control couldn't just reach in and coax it out.
The Monmouth County SPCA had to bring in a local contractor just to rip up the shed's flooring. Scott Crawford, an animal control officer on the scene, waited until the snake was exposed before carefully grabbing its head and easing it into a transport carrier.
If you look at the rescue footage, you notice an unmistakable, massive lump right in the middle of the snake's body.
What the X-Rays Found
Once the snake arrived at the Monmouth County SPCA facility, veterinary staff took X-rays to check its health and figure out what caused that enormous midsection bulge.
The results cleared up any mystery. The python had recently swallowed a full-grown opossum.
Snakes possess specialized jaws and stretchy ligaments that let them consume prey much wider than their own heads. Even so, digesting a heavy marsupial takes an immense amount of energy. The meal explains why the snake was moving so slowly across the yard when Leslie Daley first spotted it. It was heavy, full, and trying to process a massive caloric intake while hiding from the summer heat.
Why This Keeps Happening
Dr. Samantha Mammen and the team at the Monmouth County SPCA handled the intake with professional calm, but they didn't mince words about how the snake got there.
This wasn't a wild animal that crept its way up from Florida. It was an abandoned pet. People buy cute baby reptiles without realizing how large they grow. An eight-foot python requires secure enclosures, specialized heating, and expensive meals. When owners get overwhelmed, they commit the illegal and cruel act of releasing the animal outdoors.
Releasing an exotic reptile is a lose-lose scenario. The animal usually dies from cold weather or starvation, and if it survives, it wreaks havoc on local ecosystems. New Jersey winters are brutal. A tropical snake left outside in November wouldn't stand a chance, but during the warm summer months, it can survive long enough to terrify a neighborhood.
Where the Snake Is Now
The python's future is secure, at least for now. The SPCA partnered with Fins and Feathers, an independent pet store and reptile hub in Red Bank, New Jersey.
An experienced handler with the proper state reptile permits took custody of the animal. If no legal owner steps forward to claim the snake, that expert facility will remain its permanent home.
Stop buying exotic pets if you aren't prepared for the long haul. If you find yourself unable to care for a reptile, don't drop it under a neighbor's shed. Call a local shelter or rescue group instead. They will take the animal off your hands without involving a contractor or a set of veterinary X-rays.
