MEDFORD, N.Y. — Large snakes are common in Florida, but apparently one hitched a ride to New York.
A 14-foot reticulated python was discovered on Feb. 14 on the side of a road in eastern Long Island, the New York Department of Environmental Conservation said in a news release.
Details of the find were released by the agency on Wednesday.
“Nothing to see here,” the DEC wrote in a Facebook post. “Just your average, run-of-the-mill 14-foot reticulated python on the side of the road on Long Island.”
The reptile was dead but state officials are still searching for its owner because it is illegal to have these kinds of snakes as pets in New York, WNBC-TV reported.
Officers responding to the scene said the snake was curled up in a ball on the road, the DEC said in a news release. “The (officers) removed the snake from the roadway to appropriately dispose of it.”
Persons commenting on the DEC’s Facebook post suggested that the snake was either an escaped pet or somehow found its way north.
“If not escaped, probably hitched a ride on some type of transport vehicle/boat,” one person wrote. “No one would dump this snake.”
Pythons are cold-blooded, which means they are sensitive to temperatures cooler than 50 degrees. A snake living outdoors in New York over the past few months would have had a small chance of survival.
According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, reticulated pythons average between 13 to 16 feet in the wild.
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