A spring break trip to Costa Rica left a University of Colorado Boulder student with more than souvenirs and dirty clothes to unpack. Tucked inside her carry-on suitcase was a tiny venomous pit viper that she did not discover until she got home.
What happened?
According to the Daily Camera, University of Colorado Boulder sophomore Samara Kahan was going through her luggage in her sorority house after the trip. She then spotted something coiled in the bag.
"I jump up immediately, and I scream, 'There's a snake in my bag! There's a snake in my bag!'" Kahan explained to the outlet.
The Daily Camera said the animal was a slender hognose pit viper, a venomous snake found in Costa Rica and other parts of Central America.
Kahan returned from her trip on March 19 but did not fully unpack for several days, meaning the snake may have remained inside her suitcase for at least six days.
Kahan and her friends initially assumed the snake was dead. Then it moved and lunged when someone got close.
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"We were extremely terrified," Kahan said.
Kahan explained she and her friends quickly called animal control numbers online, and Bryce Bauman of Best Pest and Wildlife Control came to help.
After taking the snake out of the suitcase, Bauman quickly recognized that it was not native to Colorado.
"We see a lot of crazy stuff in the wildlife industry, but in my six or seven years of doing this, I have never had to deal with a venomous snake from another country," he said to the Daily Camera.
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Why does it matter?
Because the snake was concealed in her luggage for days, Kahan said she could have been bitten at any point.
The snake appears to have crossed international borders by accident in standard luggage.
Releasing a nonnative species into the wild can threaten local ecosystems, spread disease or introduce new safety risks for people and pets.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife spokesperson Kara Van Hoose praised the group for avoiding that outcome.
"I'm glad they didn't just release the snake into the wild," she told the Daily Camera. "They took steps to make sure it got into proper care."
What's being done?
Once the snake was removed, Ronald Bohnert Jr., who runs Boulder's Scales 'N Tails exotic pet shop, kept it warm and hydrated overnight while officials decided what to do next.
"Being a reptile guy, it was cool to be a part of it all and help the animal find a home in a bad situation," Bohnert told the outlet.
The Denver Zoo ultimately took ownership in coordination with Colorado Parks and Wildlife.
Jake Kubié, a spokesperson for the Denver Zoo, said the snake is safe and will stay in quarantine for six months.
Zoo staff believed the reptile was a newborn, and it weighed just under 1 ounce.
"The cool thing about this is that it's really a rescue story," Kubié said to the Daily Camera. "We're very glad that we can provide a nice home for this little snake."
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