Python found behind Siesta Key home

A Siesta Key resident was shocked Jan. 16, when he looked outside and saw a 12-foot yellow python trying to slither out of the canal behind his home.

“[My wife] wasn’t too thrilled,” said Joe Volpe, who fished the snake out with his pool brush. He said it seemed to be in shock because of the cold.

When Justin Matthews arrived from Matthews Wildlife Rescue, he took the creature to a vet, who determined it had a slight head injury and was smaller than it should have been. Matthews suspects, from its coloring, the albino reticulated python was a pet someone set free.

In all his time in Sarasota, Matthews said he’s never seen a python. He plans to keep it.