Snakes alive — escaped boa rattles neighbours
His name’s Murphy — a skinny, string bean of a thing — slippery, beady-eyed and on the lam since he silently slithered out of the house Friday night.
Not the tale of a fugitive Irish thug, but a real-life drama being played out on Lanark Avenue on Monday as all eyes were open for a missing boa constrictor that measures roughly five feet long.
Some treated the story with a touch of the lighthearted. “I just wanted to walk by to see if I could make two hundred bucks,” said retired engineer Tom Cole, out for an afternoon stroll, eyes darting along front lawns, in reference to the $200 reward.
“Maybe see it hanging from a tree.”
Of course, he lives on the 25th floor of a nearby highrise, so no worries of finding a Murphy-InThe-Bed at home.
Rhea Fast, 44, however, was upset about the news of the missing snake. She was most concerned about the safety of children and pets and said this is not the first time an exotic snake has gone missing from the same house.
“There are small children who live on this block and lots of (domestic) animals,” said Fast. “My third concern is for the snake. It should be secured and protected and not having to worry about being run over. This is baloney.”
She said she contacted the office of Coun. Jeff Leiper and is considering starting a petition to have the snakes removed or at least inspected.
Owner Karen Genge confirmed the earlier snake escape on Lanark, but compared it to a cat or dog that might wander off the owner’s property, something that happens to every pet owner.
“It’s not really relevant,” she said in a brief conversation mentioning an escaped python incident some years ago. “I don’t think I want to pursue this.”
In an earlier interview with reporter Megan Gillis, Genge called Murphy “timid” and not a threat to anyone.
“He’s never been outside. He’ll be terrified.” She thinks he likely slithered out of a door left ajar for the cats.
His diet consists of small rats she buys frozen. “He wouldn’t know how to kill anything,” she said. “He’s never had to.”
There were handwritten posters put up along Lanark and passing public servants admitted they were looking out for the reptile during their lunch-hour strolls.
Fast, who has lived across the street for 16 years, said in the earlier escape the snake was found in a narrow gap beside a neighbour’s front steps, a neighbour with young children.
She said she was bitten by a rattlesnake when she was six and had to be airlifted to a hospital in Edmonton for treatment. “There’s nothing funny about this.”
As she spoke to reporters on the sidewalk, along came Jeanne and Percy Cashaback, a retired couple who have lived on Lanark for 48 years. “I’m petrified of snakes,” said Jeanne.” I didn’t think they were even allowed.”
She said she had a number of backyard activities planned with a six-year-old grandchild in a few days but will change the venue if Murphy has not been found.
Well, leave it to a snake to open a can of worms. Is Murphy legal? Is Murphy dangerous? Will he slither up the toilet? Will he strangle the cat? The toddler?
Firstly, the city reports that, indeed, boa constrictors are permitted if they reach “an adult length” less than two metres.
Secondly, both Leiper and a snake expert say the wayward reptile does not pose a threat to humans.
“I would say there is zero risk to people in the neighbourhood,” said Paul “Little Ray” Goulet, of Little Ray’s Reptile Zoo and Nature Centre. He said this kind of boa is a “fairly commonly kept” snake that usually eats anywhere from once a week to once a month, depending on the size of the meal. “People hear the name boa constrictor and just assume that they are big, powerful snakes that can constrict a person. It’s just not the case.”
He said the species in question is likely a “dwarf ” variety that might only weigh 10 or 12 pounds. Goulet guessed the snake is hunkered somewhere within a short radius of the house, like under a shed. The real danger, he said, is for the snake itself, as it can’t survive in colder temperatures.
Leiper said he has had several calls about missing Murph but discouraged an all-out snake hunt. “The snake is very well camouflaged, and the area contains multiple rough-kept areas, gardens, porches, and scrub on public and private properties. I consider it highly unlikely that even a concerted search would be successful.”
Snake in the grass, surely.