Pet boa constrictor remains on the loose

Missing since Sunday when he slithered out of a sunny, Delaware County backyard, "Snakie," the 23-year-old pet boa constrictor belonging to Swarthmore veterinarian David Spiegel was still on the loose Friday, or likely stranded in a shady spot in a state of cold-blooded torpor.

Linda Spiegel, the vet's wife and office manager, said the seven-foot reptile, which survives on a diet of live rats, was raised around her children, two cats and a dog and is unlikely to endanger anyone.

"He eats once a month," she said Friday, "and was last fed a week and a half ago."

Still, anyone who spots the brown-skinned animal with its distinctive geometric markings should call borough police, she said, who in turn will alert her.

Boas, which kill by squeezing their prey to death, can live in the wild for 20 to 30 years.

Ten days ago an African rock python escaped from a pet store in New Brunswick, Canada, and killed two brothers, ages 5 and 7, while they slept in an apartment above the shop.

Some initial media reports identified that snake as a boa constrictor, but the store's owner said it was a python, according to Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Snakie was adopted by the Spiegels 18 years ago when a client of the vet could no longer keep it. The couple thought they were providing a temporary foster home, then decided to keep him.

Spiegel said her husband, who was unavailable Friday, usually let Snakie sun himself in their yard and checked on him every few minutes. Sunday, apparently, too much time passed. When he checked, their slinky pal was gone.

Their Yale Avenue house abuts a wooded area that is carpeted with pachysandra. If Snakie is holed up there, said Linda Spiegel, he probably is trapped in the shade, which slows a snake's metabolism.

She and her husband have been walking the neighborhood looking for him. A few borough firefighters have helped with the search. A false sighting sent her off looking under a bridge, into a creek, and "slip-sliding" in the mud, she said.

But there's hope for a happy reunion.

Snakie went missing once before and was found a few blocks away by a Swarthmore College employee. The brave man snatched him up, put him in a pillowcase and called Linda Spiegel to retrieve him.

And this time too, says Spiegel, "We just want our little guy back."