All I can say is wahhhh, bunch of babies. And these people consider themselves grown men. I'd be thrilled to find a Dum in my cabinets.
SALEM - The coiled boa constrictor lifted its head when Jeff Bradley cracked open the door to the bathroom vanity.
The find had already sent his fiance out of the room screaming, causing Bradley to jump from the couch where he was watching a replay of the Notre Dame football game.
"I said, 'Oh my God.' and slammed the door shut," he said.
A 31/2-foot Dumeril's boa had entered the condominium at 1 Brook Road sometime between Saturday and Sunday morning. The animal is now in the custody of a local pet store until its owner reclaims it, said Kelly Demers, Salem's animal control officer.
"It slithered down from an upstairs apartment. There's holes in the wall for the pipes. I can tell you it's not a good thing to find," Demers said.
The Sea World Pet Center on Route 28 is holding the boa because the town doesn't have a proper holding facility for it.
Bradley decided yesterday to move his fiance, Heather Grace, and his two children, Zachary, 4, and Kelsie, 11, to a friend's camp in Pelham until a house that Bradley is building next door to the camp is completed.
"My son, he's only 4. He's 31/2-feet-tall and could've been the one who found it," Bradley said. "It could have come right out of the vanity."
Grace was in search of cleaning materials around 11 a.m. on Sunday but found the snake curled on top of a box of tissues and a package of soap against the cabinet door.
Police said they are taking no action against the snake's owner, but Demers said he is still consulting with the town's building department to see if keeping the animal might have been any sort of civil infraction.
"It was a really docile animal," Demers said. "But if you didn't know anything about them, it can give you a real scare."
Demers said the building's management company does allow pets but wasn't aware the snake was being kept by a tenant. No state laws bar people from owning such exotic animals.
Bradley said he's disappointed the snake's owner is able to get his animal back without any kind of penalty. "It shouldn't be allowed in this guy's custody," he said.
Demers said he's personally not a fan of snakes, and until last weekend, the most exotic animal he's removed from a home was a macaw.
"It was an odd call. I've had calls for snakes before. One was a garter snake about a foot tall," he said. "I've removed owls and racoons from people's chimneys."
On the call for the large, colorful macaw, Demers said he also called upon the pet store, who sent over an expert to remove the bird. "They were really helpful. They were able to remove the animal without stressing it out."
As for the snake, Demers said he donned a pair of Kevlar gloves, grabbed a plastic container and submitted to doing the dirty work himself.
"They give me the willies," he said. "I brought my wife along because she's a snake person."
Bradley recalled a funny moment before Demers walked into his home: "He said, 'It's a snake? I'd rather it be a rabid Rottweiler than a snake.' It looked like it was ready to strike."
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