Oklahoma trailer park python captured after 6 months

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – After surviving six months inside a southeast Oklahoma City trailer park, an albino python was found and wrangled by a man who lived there.

“The thing was found under the same home that management had thought it was under,” said one anonymous resident. “One of the neighbors came out around 2 this morning and grabbed it. They put it in a hamper, sealed it with duct tape, and left it out front of their home until the office opened up to take care of it.”

The snake is now in the hands of Michael Wilkins, of Oklahoma Exotics and Rescue. It had been surviving in the Burntwood Mobile Home Park.

Experts had said previously that after viewing it through their cameras, they believed it was 13 feet long and because residents claimed half the cats were missing in the neighborhood, that it had been eating cats.

“No, I would say it is about 8 feet, maybe a little more,” said Wilkins while taking out the snake to show Nexstar’s KFOR. “It’s a juvenile, maybe a little older and he is not in the best of shape.”

Wilkins said the python hadn’t eaten in quite some time.

“As you’ll notice, he is about 8 feet long and has not eaten any cats or any other wild animals recently,” Oklahoma Exotics Rescue and Sanctuary posted on their Facebook page.

“Honestly, after this weekend, he probably wouldn’t even be alive. This weekend would have killed him because we’re supposed to be seeing a freeze,” said Wilkins.

For many, the idea of even an 8-foot python slithering nearby had them on edge.

“I’m just very, very happy it’s gone,” said a resident identified only as Barbie, who lives with her husband in the neighborhood next to Burntwood.

“When I would go outside or head into my garage I was always making sure there wasn’t a snake in there,” she said. “It is just crazy that it was out there that long, I’m so happy it has been caught.”

Snake captured on camera in South OKC neighborhood. (Image courtesy KFOR anonymous source.)

When asked if the snake was any danger to those who lived there, Wilkins said it was raised in captivity, meaning it’s not as dangerous as one raised in the wild. But the strength of their constriction could still be dangerous.

The python will now be given the proper food, storage, and medical help it needs, Wilkins assured.

“I will start right away getting him antibiotics and getting him rehabbed,” said Wilkins. “It really has been dangerous for him all this time.”

According to residents of Burntwood, it took three different experts and two dogs over the past two months to capture the python. But in the end, a resident captured it in one night.

When on the property of the park, a KFOR reporter was immediately escorted off and was told there was nothing to say. A staff member said an alert would be sent out to residents and that is where their statement would be.

In previous reporting, KFOR found that management had warned residents not to talk to the media about the snake. Yes! Communities, the company that owns the park, has been sent several emails and sent several phone calls but has not replied.

The python will stay with Wilkins and the crew at Oklahoma Exotics Rescue and Sanctuary for now.