Kit Roberts
Given what people leave in their cars, mechanics must find all manner of weird objects while servicing vehicles.
But employees at mechanic's shop Beach Automotive in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, got a particularly unusual surprise while servicing a vehicle yesterday (26 September).
A video posted online shows a long object being extracted from the under the vehicle's hood.
And no, it's not the fan belt.
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In fact, it was an 8ft long boa constrictor which had decided that the car's engine block would be the perfect place to hide.
You can see the massive snake being extracted in the video below:
Mechanics Matt Trudeau and Tony Galli were the poor souls who found the huge reptile, and they quickly called in expert Russell Cavender, known as 'The Snake Chaser', to help.
In the clip, Cavdender can be seen methodically extracting the snake from the 2015 Ford Focus after it coiled up in there, possibly for warmth.
In a Facebook Post, he said: "I have found many many things underneath the hood of cars. Possums, Squirrels rats, and several snakes, but never an 8-foot albino boa constrictor."
He told WPDE: "Well, I am glad I had a mechanic there, because he did have to take a few parts out so I could get him out, and he came out a lot easier than I thought he would because this is pure muscle.
"If he wanted to wedge himself in a certain part of that engine, it would have taken a long time. A lot of coaxing.
“I’ve never seen anything albino before. This is the first albino snake I have crossed. It’s obviously non-native, but it was cool."
While boa constrictors can deliver a painful bite when they feel threatened, they are not venomous, and only the very largest specimens pose any danger to humans.
Boa constrictors, or The Common Boa, are native to South America. The snakes are ambush predators, and will lie in wait in a concealed spot waiting for an ill-fated mammal or bird to get too close.
While not native to the USA, boa constrictors are very popular as pets, and are widely bred for the variety of patterns they can have, such as this albino snake.
Unfortunately, this can sometimes result in them being released into the wild. There they can be harmful to local wildlife, and of course turn up in people's cars while looking for a warm secluded spot to hide.
People in the comments were understandably horrified at the snake in the car.
One person replied: "Hell no!!! Sell the dang car!"
Another said: "So where did the snake come from????? YIKES."
A third replied: "Y'all can keep the car."
It could be worse. In Australia spiders sometimes hide underneath the door handles on cars. No thanks.