Pet Python stows away in DVD player box sent in for repair

The disappearance was no big deal at the 2-hectare
Himmerick homestead, where Paco was sometimes not seen for weeks, and
where the family's five cats, two birds, three dogs and one rabbit had the
run of the house.

"We just assumed he was in Rusty's closet, because my son has a lot of
shoes," said Himmerick. She added that Paco's diet was three mice per
week, but as a snake, he didn't have to eat that often, so his skipping a
few meals was not particularly troubling.

"We're just so glad he's alive," Himmerick said. "They don't like the
cold, they've got be a good 27 degrees or more. And it was pretty cold. I
sent it ground delivery."

Paco has been making python friends and feasting on pre-killed rats in
a cozy cage at an NJ Pets store in Clifton, and will be shipped back home
to Missouri, this time in temperature-controlled comfort.

A woman who answered the phone at CVE, in Secaucus, New Jersey, said
the company had no comment on the incident.

Secaucus animal warden Kevin Kessler, who was called to CVE to handle
the python, said Paco was a bit listless but unharmed, and that no charges
were filed.

"Things like this do happen," Kessler said.