Missing ball python found dead in Halifax apartment

CTV Atlantic: Ball python found dead It appears a ball python that was on the loose in a Halifax apartment building was never actually missing.

It appears a ball python that was on the loose in a Halifax apartment building, prompting an alert and the demolition of walls, was never actually missing.

The reptile has been found dead in the same apartment where it was kept and the discovery has people who live in Harbour View Apartments breathing a sigh of relief.

“Wonderful. I’ve had nightmares since Friday and I never wanted to come in my apartment and see it in there because I’d scream the whole place out,” says resident Averlene Jordan.

Management at Harbour View Apartments on Brunswick Street sent a letter to tenants on Thursday, asking them to keep an eye out for a small boa constrictor that had escaped its enclosure.

They said the snake wasn’t poisonous, but warned it could cause harm to small animals and babies, and asked tenants not to leave small pets or children alone until the snake had been found.

However, upon further investigation, the snake was revealed to be a ball python – a docile snake commonly kept as a pet.

After an extensive search of the apartment and the demolition of some walls, people believed the snake was gone for good.

But Capreit, the Toronto-based company that owns the building, released a statement Tuesday afternoon saying the snake had been found dead, buried within a piece of the owner’s furniture.

“Although we were told there was no danger to our staff or residents, we are sincerely pleased that the snake has been found and we can confidently inform all involved that the issue has been resolved,” said the company in a statement.

“Everybody is glad it’s over, the establishment, the owner, myself,” says pest remover Terry McLeod. “I’m glad it’s over. I’m sorry for the snake. We searched and searched and searched and there were five of us involved searching and we just couldn’t find it.”

McLeod says he isn’t certain what killed the snake, but he believes the unseasonably cold weather may have had something to do with its death.

“It just looked like it curled up and died…the cold, they can’t live out in this cold, not for two, three days,” he says.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Gena Holley