State officials confiscated a 2-foot-long snake found in the bathroom of a Kane'ohe home yesterday morning.

A resident found the snake in a small bucket next to the bathtub at the home on Yacht Club Street, near the He'eia side of Kane'ohe Bay. Police and state Department of Agriculture Plant Quarantine inspectors were called.

It was not known how the snake got into the home, the agriculture department said.

Ball pythons are native to western and west-central Africa and are common in the pet trade on the Mainland, the agriculture department said. They are non-venomous and can grow to 6 feet long.

"It's kind of small, considering how big it could grow. Coiled up it's the length of a magic marker," said Janelle Saneishi, agriculture department spokeswoman.

Snakes are illegal in Hawai'i. They have no natural predators here and pose a serious threat to Hawai'i's environment. Anyone caught possessing illegal animals can be charged with a class C felony and subject to fines up to $200,000 and three years in prison.

The snake will remain at the state plant quarantine office on Sand Island until the department can ship it to a reptile farm in Florida.

Anyone with information on illegal animals should call the pest hotline at 643-7378.