Pregnant woman stunned to find snake in kitchen, then learns it belonged to former tenant

A Rhode Island woman's snack run turned into the kind of story that sounds too bizarre to be real, especially in New England.

In East Providence, Nicole Jones, who is seven months pregnant, went into her kitchen and found a snake. 

It later turned out the reptile was a former tenant's pet and had been missing in the apartment for months.

What happened?

Jones, who recently moved into an apartment in East Providence, told WPRI she initially thought the reptile in her kitchen was part of a dream and woke up her mother. But once the snake started moving, she contacted East Providence Police.

"It's something you just don't wake up to in Rhode Island. Florida, maybe," Jones told WPRI.

East Providence Police took the snake from the apartment after deciding it was neither venomous nor native to the area. Only afterward did Jones realize it wasn't a wild snake at all, but someone's missing pet.

The mystery was solved through social media, where Jones found the previous tenant and learned the snake had been gone for three months.

Why does it matter?

What makes the incident unusual is that the animal was an escaped pet rather than a native snake that simply got inside, and it somehow managed to stay alive in the apartment building.

Encounters like this also highlight that as humans continue to expand into more and more wild spaces, interactions with wildlife like snakes will continue to happen. 

Jones said she also felt sympathy for the reptile after police removed it.

"It was just very calm, no agitation, nothing, so I was like, you know, it seems like a very good snake, even though it's been through a lot clearly," she said.

She also admitted the situation continued to unsettle her, saying, "I've been here sleeping, not knowing where he's been hiding."

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