Red-Eyed Snake Discovered In Royal Oak Home, Rattles Residents

ROYAL OAK (CBS Detroit) How did this blankety-blank snake get on this blankety-blank pole in the laundry room?

No one knows.

But the residents of one Royal Oak home walked into this situation: a red-eyed Slytherin-looking beast wrapped around a utility pipe inside their home.

Experts suspect he was trying to warm up.

The residents called the Royal Oak Police Department -- though snake handling is not their specialty. Dispatcher Teri Murray happened to be on duty, and she previously worked in an animal hospital for nine years. She volunteered to rescue the snake.

"I used a step stool to reach up and get the snake," she told Royal Oak's communications specialist Judy Davids. "It was cold and lethargic and easy to handle."

Murray took the snake home and has been caring for it since.

"The snake is not aggressive at all," she said in a Facebook post. "I have to believe it is someone's pet and somehow escaped."

Snakes that are kept as pets -- and have never had to forage for food -- often times have difficulty surviving on their own, she added.

The ROPD would like to return the wandering slitherer to its rightful owner.

Anyone who believes they are the owner of the snake should call the Royal Oak Police at 248-246-3500.