Pet Python Reunited With 14-Year-Old Owner After Being Found in the Strangest Place
You may want to double-check the next time you rent a truck.
One 14-year-old snake owner is finally taking a deep breath after being reunited with his beloved ball python, Nate the Snake. Nate had escaped while Dion Malik Jones and his family drove a U-Haul Truck from Winchester to Suffolk, Virginia--but his escape wasn't even the craziest part.
As WTVR reports, Dion's family assumed that the snake had escaped the truck entirely. They searched the engine, assuming the reptile was seeking warmth, but to no avail. Luckily, though, Nate would soon show up.
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We can only imagine how relieved Dion and his family must be! Not only was Nate nowhere to be found (initially, at least) but he was also in poor health when he finally was located in the cab of the U-Haul.
Megan Hamm, the U-Haul manager who found Nate, was doing routine inspections when she noticed the reptile. She told WTVR that this is one of her more unique finds: "Most of the time it's just leftover water bottles. That's way better for me."
LOL! Finding a ball python instead of a water bottle must've been the shock of a lifetime. Despite the surprise, though, she knew what to do. She called Virginia Wildlife Management & Control, who were able to care for the sickly snake.
"Inside of a cab of a truck, where there's no heat unless it's running all the time, [chances of survival are] slim to none," Virginia Wildlife Management & Control owner Richard Perry told WTVR. "I mean that snake was literally on its last breath." Thankfully, Perry and his team were able to nurse the snake back to health before returning him to Dion.
As one can imagine, the teenager was more than excited to be reunited with his pet. Nate holds an extra special place in Dion's heart because he is symbolic of his late dad's love. Dion's father had wanted to get his son a python before he passed away, so that's precisely what Dion's mother did for her son's birthday. As special as Nate is to Dion, we have a feeling he's important to the entire family, too.
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