A six-foot-long snake has been rescued after it got stuck for 12 hours in a kitchen cabinet inside a home in Illinois.
The boa constrictor, named Nagini, was stuck in the side panel of the cabinet before emergency services were called to help remove it on Wednesday morning.
The City of Herrin Fire Department said in a Facebook post said two units responded to the call as firefighters worked to dismantle the cabinet so the owner could get their snake back.
The post said: “Squad 1 and Car 1 responded to a report of a pet snake stuck in a wall this morning. Upon arrival, crews found Nagini (a 6ft Boa) had been stuck in the side panel of a kitchen cabinet for approximately 12 hours after escaping her enclosure.
“FFs Lamb and Blake were able to disassemble the cabinet so the owner could get the snake.”
The fire department said there was “no damage” to the property and Nagini was safely returned to her enclosure.
“The picture of the enclosure is from the side, it is much larger than it looks. Also, the owner had approx. 15lbs of weight on the top, and the snake pushed it off. Have taken extra measures now,” the fire department said in the comments section of the post.
Speaking to KFVS, Nagini’s owner Lorelei Hills describes the moment her pet snake escaped from her tank.
“I’m laying down ready to go to bed and I hear a noise and I’m like--oh I know what that is, I know exactly what that is,” she told the outlet.
“She decided that she was going to slither all the way across to the cabinet where she then found the small yay size hole and before we could even do anything, her head was in it and she was slithering so fast up into it we couldn’t do anything,” Hills said.
After unsuccessful attempts of trying to retrieve the reptile themselves, Hill and the snake’s other owner, Cannan Hodge decided to make the call to the fire department.
“We were like ‘Oh, they cut people out of situations like this so why can’t they do it for a snake?’ So we called them, and they were like, ‘Oh yeah we can help you,’” Ms Hills said.
The snake was safely returned to its enclosure— (City of Herrin Fire Department)
Firefighters arrived 30 minutes after the call and got to work.
“They were still scared of the snake very, very much so I had to come by and grab her the best I could, and without scaring the firefighters or scaring her,” Hodge added.
“So I did that, quickly put her back in her tank and she’s been fine ever since. We really just got to clean her now since she’s been stuck in a dusty, cramped space for so long--12 hours.”
