Watch: Florida man spots ball python on the loose while walking his dogs

Ben Hooper
·1 min read
67

Nov. 15 (UPI) -- A man walking his dogs in a Florida neighborhood captured video of an unusual animal wandering loose: a ball python.

David Hernandez said he was walking his dogs on South Coolidge Avenue in the Belmar Gardens neighborhood of South Tampa when he spotted something moving.

"I'm kind of surprised I noticed it because it was definitely camouflaged," Hernandez told WFLA-TV.

Hernandez recorded video as he went in for a closer look.

"I could see easily at least three and a half feet of snake and the rest of it was in the shade of the bushes and completely motionless," Hernandez told WTSP-TV. "When I did get close, it hissed at me."

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission confirmed the sighting had been reported and that the snake in Hernandez' footage is a non-native ball python, a species commonly kept as pets.

Dan Costell, reptile curator at ZooTampa, said the nonvenomous snake will be in danger from dropping temperatures if it isn't caught soon.

"They're an African species -- they like it a little warmer, so as winter sets in and it starts getting colder here, that animal will more than likely die if somebody doesn't catch it," he said.