Updated

A Canadian couple has been charged with animal cruelty after 40 ball python snakes and five eggs were found in a motel room.

The discovery is sure to stoke fear of snakes in Canada, where a python that escaped from a pet store strangled two young boys in New Brunswick earlier this month.

The reptiles, some of them more than 3 feet long, were found last week in plastic storage bins in a motel room in Brantford, Ontario.

The Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said Friday the snakes were dehydrated, and didn't have enough space. A man and a woman were charged with animal cruelty. Their names have not been released.