Goodwill gives owner a second chance with lost boa

[Ax01]

ok so the owner of 5 snakes came home from vacay 6 months ago to discover a Boa missing. he tore the house apart and still never found the snake. recently he donated some couches and clothes to Goodwill and lo and behold, there's Toki, the missing Albino Red Tail. this find makes the news and it's traced back to the owner where he's eventually reunited with his snake.

i find this story interesting b/c 1) i hear of peeps losing their snakes quite often. those snakes are usually found within 72hours or else they're literally a lost cause, never heard from again. 2) everyone talks about tearing their house apart to find their lost snake but do they tear apart stuff like furniture and appliances? this owner probably lived with the Boa in his couch for 6months! or maybe the couch was a recent hiding spot? and 3) the Boa looks to be in decent shape for not having being fed or watered for 6months. snakes are so resilient!

ok this article calls the snake a python: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/fort...t-worth-center

Albino python reunited with owner after hiding out in couch donated to Goodwill

Updated at 7:53 p.m. Saturday to reflect that the snake's owner has been found.

A shocking discovery Thursday at the Goodwill Industries of Fort Worth sorting center now officially has a happy ending: The owner of a young, albino, rosy-tailed python has reclaimed his pet after it was accidentally part of a donation.

Austin Pear said Toki had been missing for the last five months.

"We came back from vacation and I couldn't find Toki," Pear said. "We looked everywhere. We even tried putting out glue, rat traps in hopes of trapping him. It wouldn't have hurt him. He would have just lost some scales. We checked all the couches ... or so we thought ... all the clothing. We tore every single room apart and nothing. Just, snake is gone."

While Pear was preparing to move, he donated a couple of couches to Goodwill. Unfortunately, Toki was hiding in one of them.

Friends who followed media coverage of Toki's reappearance alerted Pear, and the reunion quickly became a reality.

Pear now has five snakes and a dog as part of his menagerie. And now he has learned a lesson, he said.

"Don't buy an aquarium with an open top and try to make a lid," he said. "Just buy a legit terrarium. The one that has a wire top. Get tape for the sides if necessary."

here's another updated article w/ pix of the happy owner and snake and the nice Goodwill employee (who is also a snake owner): https://www.msn.com/en-ca/lifestyle/...xAX&srcref=rss

Missing for 6 Months, Pet Snake Appears Inside Donated Couch at Texas Goodwill

It’s the Goodwill donation of nightmares for some, but good news for others.

According to NBCDFW, Austin Pair of Fort Worth, Texas, lost his snake Toki six months ago. The man returned from a vacation and couldn’t find his pet reptile anywhere, even after tearing apart his home.

As time passed, Pair accepted that somehow Toki was gone. He recently moved to a new place and as part of the process donated a couch and some other objects to Goodwill Industries of Fort Worth. Unknown to Pair, among those items was his beloved albino red-tailed boa.

Goodwill employee James Murphy was the first to realize a pet was part of Pair’s donation, finding Toki hidden in Pair’s couch while moving items at the Goodwill warehouse.

Murphy, who has found mice and insects among donations before, says this is his first snake at work, but luckily the worker is a snake owner himself, so he knew how to handle his find. Toki went home with Murphy until the slithery misunderstanding was figured out.

News of the odd Goodwill donation spread fast: One of Pair’s friends recognized Toki during a news segment about the snake’s discovery and called up Pair.

After missing for more than six months, Goodwill had Toki back wrapped around Pair’s arms in less than one week. Reunited with his reptile friend, Pair plans to bring Toki to his new home and put him in a more secure enclosure.

[Bogertophis]

Wow, I love happy endings...Toki is a lucky snake...I wonder if he'll stay out of couches now?

[distaff]

Dang. That is a beautiful snake. GW did the right thing, but I would have been tempted to keep it!

[pretends2bnormal]

Super cool story.

Though not all lost snakes are a complete lost cause past week 1. My only snake to escape was an 11g ~3 month old gray banded kingsnake... he was missing for 4.5 months through the 2nd half of a north Texas winter and most of spring before turning up again, weighing exactly the same, 11 grams. We moved some furniture and spotted a perfect shed that was too small for our other snakes, and upturned all the nearby furniture. Less than 3 feet away, he was curled up under a small footrest.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

[Bogertophis]

Many years ago I had an adult bull snake get loose in mid-November & I looked everywhere without success...I felt horrible, guilty & worried sick about her.

Six months later I walked into my kitchen one night & there she was on the floor, none the worse for wear, after having brumated under a kitchen cupboard
to which I had no access (or any reason to think she got in there, besides the basic process of elimination). Mid-May she was done with her snooze & ready
for lunch...knowing that she was chilly but not so cold as to preclude movement, I suspect that she managed a few drinks* of water from the kitchen sink just
above her hiding place during her absence (likely at night when I wasn't looking), but she wouldn't say for sure... (*like from a dish left to soak?)

[RickyNY]

Love reading news like this. Thanks for sharing AX

[RickyNY]

...but she wouldn't say for sure...

I bet you asked: "Where have you been young lady?!!!" And snake is like

[Bogertophis]

I bet you asked: "Where have you been young lady?!!!" And snake is like

I'd say she was totally unrepentant & pretty pleased with herself. Tough snake! But she was quick to order lunch...

[Helonwheelz383]

That's awesome, I love a good story these days. That would be a sight for sore eyes after 6 months. It's gotta be a common hiding spot. I had a friend growing up that lost their family Boa for a couple weeks and it was in the couch too. When my Ball is out and about she looks around and tries to find her way in to mine but the cushions are attached so it sealed off.

[Bogertophis]

That's awesome, I love a good story these days. That would be a sight for sore eyes after 6 months. It's gotta be a common hiding spot. I had a friend growing up that lost their family Boa for a couple weeks and it was in the couch too. When my Ball is out and about she looks around and tries to find her way in to mine but the cushions are attached so it sealed off.

It's like couches have some sort of magnetic attraction for snakes...I can understand if there is a tear in the lining underneath, near the floor, but how do they know
there is loose stitching under the seat cushions? -but they always LOOK there!? Why do we keep buying them cages when all they really want is a couch?