Python Wrapped Around Baby's Foot While He Slept
The parents of a 1-year-old boy in Mattoon, Illinois were stunned to discover a 2-foot-long python wrapped around their son's foot while he slept in his bed. The toddler was treated and released for wounds, and investigators say the python escaped from a neighbor's aquarium.
Devin Winans was woken up when he heard his son making noise in his crib. After getting up to check on the boy, Winans was stunned to discover a 2-foot-long ball python wrapped around the boy's left foot.
"When I felt it, it was slimy and I knew that wasn't normal," he told ABC News. "When I turned on the light, I saw a python wrapped around his foot constricting, trying to eat his foot." He called for his partner, Sara Lacey, to help, and she was able to pull the snake off of the boy's foot.
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The boy was treated for the snake bite, bruises and scratches, but given a clean bill of health and released. Lacey described the ordeal as "definitely really scary" and unexpected, given that the building they live in is pet free.
"It was definitely something we never thought of happening," Lacey told the Journal Gazette & Times-Courier.
Authorities later discovered that the snake had escaped from a neighbor's aquarium, though they have been unable to reach the snake's owner. The owner could face charges of having an animal in a pet-free residence and other charges, authorities said.
The Coles County animal shelter currently has custody of the python, and it is unknown whether it will be reunited with its original owner.
"I've gotten strange bite stories before: squirrels, horses, but never a snake," manager Julie Deters told ABC News. "They're hot and just like us they get cranky and crabby," Deters explained. It could be the reason the snake tried to find food in an unusual location.
"I'm so thankful he's okay," Winans said. "We're still practicing walking on his hurt foot, but it could have been a lot worse if he wrapped around his chest, and we probably wouldn't be having his first birthday today."
