MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A North Memphis woman had a big shock when she spotted a python on her front porch.
She says she’s seen it three times since last week slithering around her home and the vacant home next door, but no one can catch it. The species is not native to Memphis, and wildlife experts believe the snake either escaped or was let go by its owner.
“It was huge and it scared the living daylights out of me,” Constance Carson told WREG. “My initial reaction — I ran. I screamed.”
Now the whole neighborhood is on alert.
“It was curled up there, and it went on the side of the porch and stuck its head up.”
Carson said she and her neighbors have called multiple wildlife groups, who told her it was a python, its length estimated up to five feet long.
“By it being so hot, the snake hid and we don’t know where it is right now, so it’s just kinda pins and needles,” Carson said.
The python’s presence makes her uneasy to sit on her front porch and nervous for her young grandchildren.
“My grandkids can’t come and play and pets can’t come out.”
Carson says neighbors have tried setting traps but the reptile that usually is only spotted at night remains elusive. She really wants one thing at this point.
“I just want it to be gone. It’s an animal so I don’t want anything to happen to it.”