Posted at 4:10 p.m., Thursday, June 14, 2001

Python found in Pearl City home

Advertiser Staff

It's not something you'd want greeting you in the morning.

But a Pearl City man awoke today and found a two-foot python on his toilet seat.

The man called police, who notified the state Department of Agriculture. An inspector captured the nonvenomous ball python at about 7:40 a.m.

It is not known how the snake entered the home, which the man and his family bought two months ago.

The department said ball pythons coil around their heads when frightened. They are related to boa pythons, which constrict and suffocate their prey. Ball pythons can grow to six feet long.

Possessing snakes are illegal in Hawai'i. Violators face up to $200,000 in fines and three years in jail.