Huntington Beach : Restroom Was Occupied in a Big, Reticulate Way

Huntington Beach resident Billie Elker thought she was hallucinating Sunday night when she found a five-foot python coiled up in her toilet bowl.

Usually calm under stress, Elker, 60, said she was near hysterics when she found the reptile. She asked a neighbor to make sure her mind was not playing tricks on her. When the neighbor verified the snake in the toilet, Elker immediately called 911.

Ron Coleman, a supervising officer at the county animal control office, took the toilet outside onto the front lawn and removed the baby python, which is being held at the county shelter.

Coleman said no one has reported a missing reticulate python, which full grown can measure 30 feet and is among the largest snakes in the world. The python, which is two inches in diameter, will remain at the shelter for an undetermined time until it is claimed, sold or disposed of, Coleman said.

About six pythons are apprehended by the shelter each year, Coleman said. Such pets are kept illegally, he said, so owners tend not to report them missing.