It will just happen to you: if you walk quietly down the street, you almost trip over a snake. It happened to two people on Monday evening in Veghel. They saw a rat snake writhing in the Sluisstraat and alerted the police. He called in the animal ambulance to catch the animal.
“They didn’t immediately recognize what it was and even thought it was a garden hose because of the yellow-orange color,” says Danny de Groot of animal ambulance Brabant North-East a day later. When the animal moved, they realized it was a real one and called the police.
The snake quickly ran off again, but the men eventually managed to contain the animal. The reptile gave them a lot of jitters, but the employees of the animal ambulance reassured them. It was a red rat snake, which is not venomous and cannot kill. “At most, he can squirm around you a little bit. Because it is a strangling snake,” says Danny. “But such a small snake will not strangle you to death.”
The snake was taken to De Oliemeulen animal park in Tilburg. The owner of the snake can report there. At De Oliemeulen they are not surprised by the find. “It is the most commonly kept snake species and they are good escapers,” explains animal caretaker Maud Verheesen. “They look for holes themselves. If you leave the box open a little bit, they quickly squeeze out.”