Exotic snake found near hospital in Blackfoot
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BLACKFOOT — An exotic reptile was found slithering near a local hospital in Blackfoot, and nobody knows who it belongs to.
Local law enforcement found the snake over the weekend near Bingham Memorial Hospital. It was just down a road, and the Bingham County Sheriff’s Office posted about it on Facebook. The snake was then given to the Blackfoot Animal Shelter & Rescue.
Amanda Cevering, executive director of the animal shelter, told EastIdahoNews.com the snake is a red-tailed boa and is about 2 or 3 years old. The reptile was found in good condition.
The red-tailed boa, also known as a boa constrictor, is a nonvenomous snake native to tropical areas in South America. Read more about the species here.
It’s not typical to find snakes at the shelter.
“We have had snakes before … pythons. But it isn’t very common,” Cevering said.
No one has claimed the snake yet, she added.
“We do have a bunch of people who are interested in adopting it, and we will go that way if nobody claims it,” Cevering said.
Since the snake isn’t native to the area, it would have died if left on its own, Cevering said. She doesn’t know how the snake ended up where it was found, but she wanted to let people know that there are resources for owners who do not want exotic pets anymore.
“If people have exotic pets that they realize they can no longer keep or don’t want, there are resources for them. Most animal shelters will take them. Just don’t let things like that loose because it won’t survive in our climate, or if somebody had run it over. … There’s a thousand ways it could have died,” she said.