A South Carolina automotive company was left in shock after discovering a boa constrictor wrapped around a car engine on Tuesday.
“I popped the hood open, I saw this big thing laid across it,” Galli recalled of the moment he discovered the boa toABC 15 News. “I didn’t even know what it was. I thought it was an oil sock to absorb oil.”
The Snake Chaser, Russell Cavender/Juan Perez/TMX
“Then I was like ‘No, that’s a snake.’ Then I poked it and it moved and I was like ‘that thing is alive,'” he continued. The car had been sent in for a clutch shutter and recall, according to the outlet.
“I called Matt, the shop foreman there, and said ‘You good with snakes?’” Galli said. “And he said ‘No, is it a garter snake, because we had one yesterday here’ and I said ‘No, this is bigger.”
“I have found many many things underneath the hood of cars. Possums, squirrels, rats, and several snakes, but never an 8-foot albino boa constrictor,” Cavender wrote in his caption. “I’d say a pretty interesting morning!” he added.
In a clip that was also posted, Cavender was filmed struggling at first to unwrap the boa, as it tightly clung to the engine. A few seconds later though, he was able to extract the snake from the vehicle as he held it in both hands.
“Well, I am glad I had a mechanic there because he did have to take a few parts out so I could get him out,” Cavender explained toABC 15 News. “And he came out a lot easier than I thought he would because this is pure muscle. If he wanted to wedge himself in a certain part of that engine, it would have taken a long time. A lot of coaxing.”
What is most surprising about the discovery is that the albino boa is native to Central and South America — not South Carolina.
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Cavender described the boa as “calm” and shared his theory that the large snake most likely climbed into the engine for warmth.
“I’ve never seen anything albino before,” he added. “This is the first albino snake I have crossed. It’s obviously non-native, but it was cool.”
source: people.com
