FORREST CITY, Ark. —  Firefighters helped remove a three-foot python from a home after a woman collecting plastic bags for a food pantry found it while cleaning a cabinet.

Lula Sain called a neighbor for help, but "when he came in and saw it, he almost jumped out of his skin." Fire Capt. Jimmy Sandage eventually collected the non-venomous snake.

"Once I walked in and saw it, I knew it was a python. It had wrapped itself up into a ball, and you could barely see the head. It never gave me any problems," Sandage said.

The snake was a ball python, named for their defense mechanism: the reptiles roll themselves into a tight ball and tuck their head inside their coils. They are non-venomous and can typically live, with proper care, between 20 and 30 years.

Fire officials said the snake like escaped from a terrarium at another home in the neighborhood. The snake was given to the son of one of the firefighters to keep as a pet.

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Information from: Times-Herald, http://www.thnews.com/

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