SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (KPNX) – A boa constrictor recently enjoyed a joy ride in a pickup truck.
The driver was unaware of his hitchhiker until he saw the serpent’s head underneath his truck.
Aaron Ricks said he was stopping to grab a bite to eat.
“It’s a new fear unlocked. I’m nervous to look under the hood of my truck anymore,” he said.
After parking, Ricks turned around and something underneath his truck caught his attention.
“In this area, right in the middle, and it was almost touching the ground and that’s, I thought it was a plastic bag or something,” he said.
That “plastic bag” was moving and had two eyes.
“There was two eyes looking at me and the thing had the tongue out and I just froze,” Ricks said.
It was a 5-foot-long boa constrictor that had slithered between the skid plate and the engine.
His truck typically used to tow horse trailers was instead home to a hitchhiking snake.
“I would rather wrangle a horse than wrangle a snake. Yeah, I kind of draw the line at snakes. This was out of my expertise,” he said.
Not sure what to do, Ricks called Scottsdale Police, who passed it on to Scottsdale Fire.
The call was so outrageous, they thought it was a joke.
“I’m guessing it’s somebody’s pet because the snake was very docile. The firefighter grabbed him by its head and he pulled it out and then immediately held it up so we could all see how big it was,” he said.
After snapping a few pictures to show its scale, the unscathed snake was taken to the Arizona Herpetology Society for care.
“Truck drove great, totally normal. If I hadn’t seen it, I wouldn’t have even known it was there,” Ricks said.
Boa contractors are from tropical climates so it was likely looking for a warm spot to huddle up and the truck was a perfect place.
“Never crossed my mind that there might be a snake up in there, but here we are,” Ricks said.
It was a lunch break surprise he will never forget.
“This is definitely a first time, and hopefully it’s the last time,” Ricks said.
According to the Phoenix Herpetological Society, boas are popular pets because of their mild temper and reluctance to bite.
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