8 snakes, 5 of them pregnant, stolen

DELAND, Fla., June 9 (UPI) -- A Florida pet shop owner has been robbed of eight snakes, including five female ball pythons carrying eggs.

Gary Locker, owner of Animalia in DeLand, says the stolen snakes were worth close to $30,000, the DeLand-Deltona Beacon reports. That's about as much as the rest of his stock put together.

The thieves also made off with $300 in cash.

Locker discovered the burglary when he opened the store Tuesday morning. Police believe the thief or thieves forced open the back door.

Seven of the missing snakes were ball pythons of various species, while the eighth was a red-tailed boa. Another ball python was found loose in the store.

"I don't know if someone stole the snakes, or if they're just terrible jokers," he said. "I do know the cash didn't just crawl away."

Locker in effect lost 30 or more snakes since the gravid females were carrying between 21 and 25 eggs.

A former construction worker and longtime snake enthusiast, Locker opened Animalia after Florida's construction boom went bust in 2008. He is not optimistic about recovering the stolen snakes.

"It's not a car with a title," Locker said. "It's not a microchipped animal that can be tracked, and it's not a one-in-a-million snake."