MEMPHIS, Tenn. — North Memphis neighbors are still on edge as a python slithers into hiding once again.
We first told you about the snake Monday after it hid on a grandmother’s front porch, terrorizing the family.
The python was likely once a pet. The snake, native to Africa, seems to want to stick around North Memphis.
Christina Shealy volunteered to find the snake after seeing WREG’s report about the snake sightings on Shasta Street.
“The not-so-maintained property next door would create ideal hiding places for the snake,” she said. “This would be like a haven for him I guess. He could be anywhere.”
On Monday, we showed pictures of the snake sprawled out across Constance Carson’s porch.
“It was huge. It scared the living daylights out of me,” she said.
She spotted the snake slithering around her porch three times now, and through the weeds next door.
However, Shealy says there’s nothing to fear.
“I instantly recognized it as a ball python, because I own those myself.”
She says the overgrown weeds clutter and crawl spaces at the abandoned home next door keeps pulling the creatures in.
“This little spot here is a crawl space. There’s probably some rain water that will collect that will give him some drinking water.”
Shealy says the boarded-up home next door gives the python the perfect place to sleep during the day and hunt for mice at night. She says until the grass is cut and holes are covered, the python is going to be impossible to find.
We are told that humans, and even babies, are too large for the python to harm. But pets, like kittens or puppies, could be in danger.
Experts say, the python is generally a docile and slow-moving creature.