A Burmese Python that disappeared from a backyard in Newton, Mass. has been located and returned to its home, police said.
The 6- to 8-foot pet snake named Lightning was initially reported missing last Tuesday.
Jean-Paul LaPierre, a self-proclaimed snake expert, found Lightning in a yard adjacent to the owners' yard, Newton Police said. He says picked it up and walked it home about 100 yards to the owner.
"I just put myself in that animal's place, because I lived with them, so I know what they're looking for, where they're trying to go to," LaPierre said. "It's just a sense."
While Burmese Pythons are not venemous and the owners said the python was never aggressive in the five years they had it as a pet, police still warned residents to keep their distance.
The entire Newton neighborhood also received an email notifying residents of the missing snake.
While snakes can go for months without food, the increasingly colder weather would have made it more difficult for the python to survive.
