Richard A. Kamprath's Webpage

While living in an apartment in the Village in Dallas, Texas, I found this five foot boa constrictor in the middle of my living room when I woke up at 6:45 a.m. the morning of June 22, 2010. The snake is not mine, and I do not know anyone that owns a snake, so it was a slight shock to almost step on it right after waking up. After running around crazily for a few minutes, I called animal control--who did not show up for another three and a half hours. After about an hour of sitting and watching the snake to make sure it did not escape and hide somewhere in my apartment, I moved all of the furniture away from that area and used a tennis racket and a shotgun barrel cleaner to 'herd' the snake into a box. Once mostly in, I turned the box upside down and put EVERY LAW BOOK I OWNED on top. The apartment complex manager, who did not return my calls until almost two hours after the intruder had been discovered, said "I have never heard of anything like this before!" The apartment maintenance guy and I looked behind all the appliances and found no holes in the apartment big enough for the snake to come through.

A few questions immediately spring to mind: (1) From whither did such a creature come? (2) Who let such a creature out of their apartment, assuming it was someone's pet? (3) Why did it come to MY apartment? (4) How long had I been living with creature in my apartment?

The apartment manager told me "you probably left your front door open and it snuck in behind you." Really? Perhaps the logical side of my brain is working too hard on this conundrum, but somehow I doubt I left my front door open long enough for a five foot boa constrictor to slide its way into my apartment. Anyway, I moved out that day and the case is as yet unsolved.

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