Slithering surprise in Scottsdale: Man finds boa constrictor dangling from his truck

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - When you live in Arizona, you expect to see snakes, but boa constrictors are not native to the area, and they certainly are not commonly found in a truck's engine.

When Aaron Ricks took his lunch break on Nov. 13, he noticed something dangling from the front of his truck near the engine.

"I thought it was a grocery bag or some sort of plastic. Maybe I ran over something," he said. "So I walked back over to the truck to see what it was, and was totally shocked to see this big ol' snake looking down and looking right back at me."

A boa constrictor believed to have made the trip to Scottsdale from the Mesa area with Aaron now in need of a rescue – so he called the non-emergency police line, then he was transferred to the Scottsdale Fire Department.

"Dispatchers were hilarious," Ricks recounted. "They were like 'excuse me, what are you reporting?' and they said we'll send the fire department out. They came out, and I think at first they were very skeptical. They said they didn't believe there would be a snake in the truck."

Folio said crews removed the truck's undercarriage skid plate to get the snake out.

"Thankfully, the snake was unharmed during the process," stated Folio.

Workers at the Phoenix Herpetological Sanctuary also didn't believe the find at first, but they were happy to take the snake in, and said she's lucky to be safe.

"A lot of times when animals go into engines, it's never good," said Mason Brill of the Phoenix Herpetological Sanctuary. "They get caught in a belt, or they get essentially cooked, so this girl is pretty unscathed. Maybe she has a minor burn right here, but nothing too serious."

And now.. to find out where this snake belongs.

"If there is an owner that wants to come forward and claim this animal, they will have the ability to reach out to us, and we'll try to set something up," said Brill. "Otherwise, this animal will live the rest of its life either here or, if we can find it a home, we will try to adopt this animal out."

Calling your local fire department is a good idea if you happen to find yourself in a similar situation, but you can also call the Phoenix Herpetological Sanctuary rattlesnake hotline at 480-513-4377, and they can help you.