A 14-year-old Longmont boy with an interest in snakes needed little expertise to know a python in a willow tree wasn’t a Colorado native.
The 5-foot jungle carpet python, likely a lost pet, was rescued from the 24-acre Jim Hamm Nature Area on Saturday after Trevor Bonner made the discovery.
“That’s really bad for our ecosystem,” the teen told his mother, Deb Bonner, who snapped photos and contacted the Colorado Reptile Humane Society for help, the organization said.
“We hope this snake is a lost pet that can be reunited with its owner,” said one of the organization’s board members, Jonathan Scupin of Longmont, who helped with the rescue.
He said he hoped the pet owner didn’t turn it loose intentionally.
“This snake would not survive a Colorado winter and (would) suffer in the process,” Scupin said in a news release.
Native to a tropical environment, the python would struggle to survive at temperatures below 70 degrees, according to online herpetological guides.
Nighttime temperatures are expected to fall into the 30s in Longmont this week, according to the National Weather Service.
The humane society said it would hold the snake for five days, if the owner wants to reclaim it, before putting it up for adoption.
Joey Bunch, The Denver Post
