A 3-foot-long ball python found on a toilet by a La Vista hotel guest has been reunited with the family of the man who left the reptile behind last month.
Mark Langan, Nebraska Humane Society field director, said Friday that the pet’s owner had taken the snake to the Hampton Inn in late March, but lost it inside the hotel.
The man panicked and didn’t notify hotel management about the lost snake, Langan said.
In fact, the hotel staff had no idea snake had been taken into the hotel until a guest found it when she went into the restroom Thursday morning.
Police were called. The snake was put into a pillowcase and turned over to the Humane Society.
News of the discovery spurred relatives of the python’s owner to come forward, Langan said. They contacted the Humane Society and provided photographs and other documentation to prove the snake belongs to one of their relatives, a man now visiting California.
The Hampton Inn verified that the man had stayed there in late March, Langan said.
"The right thing that should have been done was to notify the hotel management," Langan said. "This caused a lot of stress for all the parties involved."
He said no citations will be issued.
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