People at a North Carolina Chili’s got more than they ordered when a loose python was discovered.
On November 5, Shallotte Police came to the eatery after receiving a report of a huge snake in the neighborhood, according to WECT. The Shallotte Police Department stated on Facebook that they suspect it was someone’s pet.
“That beautiful snake is my baby girl, Una,” Christen Schiel explained to WECT. “She is the best snake anyone could ever have, and I have been sorely missing her for the past two months. But she must have been lurking in my car and emerged at the wrong time while I was at Chili’s at 2:30 p.m. yesterday.”
The television station referenced a North Carolina law stating that pythons are permitted pets in the southeastern state.
Schiel identified Una as a ball python. According to Petco, their name refers to their “behavior of curling themselves up into a tight ball,” and they are native to the grasslands of western and Central Africa.
Schiel was reunited with her pet, which she refers to as “baby girl,” the day after police found it.
“I didn’t sleep because I was missing her, and I went into depression and started crying hysterically,” Schiel told the local TV station. “What a lot of people don’t know or realize is that losing a reptile is the same as losing a dog or a cat for another person.”
The python’s owner stated that she had been suffering from dehydration, had lost some weight, and suffered a few minor injuries, but is now recovering.