UPS driver finds python in van

ST. LOUIS, Aug. 9 (UPI) -- A Missouri United Parcel Service driver got a shock when he found a 9-foot python in his van, while a snake fancier was disappointed to get an empty box.

David Ostermyer and his new pet were united after he saw a news story which said that the python had been delivered to the St. Charles County animal shelter, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

Ostermyer, of O'Fallon, ordered the female albino Burmese python from a Pennsylvania dealer to breed it with a male he already owns. He told officials he tried to flag down the UPS driver when he realized the snake was not in the box.

The driver found the animal curled up on a shelf in the van.

A herpetologist told the newspaper that the best way to ship snakes is in a bag tied firmly closed because snakes can break out of boxes.

The Burmese python, one of the largest snakes in the world, is a popular pet. But many people who acquire the snakes when they are small later abandon them, and Burmese pythons are now common in the Florida Everglades.