A homeowner in eastern Alabama got an unwelcome surprise when they discovered a large snake in their toilet, according to a local police department.
The reptile – later identified as a grey rat snake – was found by a resident of Barbour County, Alabama, who called the police to their home last week.
In a Facebook post on Friday, the Eufaula Police Department said the snake was an unexpected call. They were able to release the reptile into a “suitable habitat” nearby.
Grey rat snakes are found across the United States and, according to the Indiana Indiana Department of Natural Resources, are non-venomous and mostly black or dark brown in colour.
The mouths of the snakes, which can grow as long as as 2 metres (or 7 feet), are white.
“We never know from one day to the next what kind of call we will receive during our shift,” said the police department in Eufaula, a town roughly 73 miles southwest of the Alabama state capitol Montongomery. “Today was no exception”.
The department continued: “However a snake in the toilet wasn’t on our list of possibilities. Day shift removed the unwelcome visitor and released it to a more suitable habitat.”
Making light of the encounter, the police department added: “The snake was a harmless Gray Rat Snake. In the snake’s defence, he was just trying to reach the homeowner about their car’s extended warranty”.
More than a thousand people commented on the Facebook post expressing their horror at the snake-filled toilet, with one person writing: “Glad it wasn’t my house!!”
Grey rat snakes are typically found in deciduous woodlands, prairies, stream valleys, and on rocky hillsides, according to the Indiana natural resources department.
