Venomous Snake Found Inside Box of Bananas at New Hampshire Grocery Store

Mar. 15, 2025

A snake was found inside a box of bananas at a New Hampshire grocery store.Photo:Getty;Google Maps

Getty;Google Maps

Employees at a New Hampshire grocery store found an “unwanted hitchhiker” in a container of bananas.

According to local news stationWMUR, staff at a Market Basket store in Manchester called in authorities from the New Hampshire Fish and Game Law Enforcement Division after they discovered a snake inside a box of bananas on Saturday, Feb. 15.

“Luckily for us, he seemed to be pretty familiar with snakes,” Fish and Game conservation officer Griffin McKeown joked to the outlet, referring to the employee who first discovered the reptile.

In a Facebook postfrom N.H. Fish and Game, officials confirmed the snake was an ornate cat-eyed snake, a “mildly venomous” species native to Ecuador.

According to McKeown, the call from the Market Basket store marked a first for his department, as New Hampshire doesn’t see a lot of ornate cat-eyed snakes.

“We’ve had a few calls about pet surrenders of ball pythons and stuff like that, but never, never a venomous snake. That’s definitely a first for me,” he told WMUR.

NH Fish and Game Department Law Enforcement

N.H. Fish and Game wrote on Facebook that the snake was healthy and unharmed, and it was rehomed withRainforest Reptile Shows Inc., a local reptile rescue organization.

The PEOPLE Puzzler crossword is here! How quickly can you solve it? Play now!

This is far from the only reptilian stowaway that was caught somewhere it shouldn’t have been. Last week, aprofessional snake catcher in Australiawas called to a person’s home after they discovered a snake in their bed.

Daniel Busstra shared on his Facebook page,Snake Catcher Dan, that he had caught a “non-venomous common tree snake” — and he had pulled it out from inside a pillowcase.

Additionally, in November, an Oklahoma woman, Donna Bratschun, found herself in a similar situation when a snake bit her after finding its way into her house and under her pillow.

Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

“It’s one thing for it to get into your house; it’s another thing for it to find your bed, climb [into] your bed and cuddle under your pillow,” Bratschun told local news stationKOKIat the time.

She concluded at the time that the snake was non-venomous and likely a bull snake — a common snake in the area of Oklahoma where she lives.

The charityHumane World for Animalsrecommends that anyone in the U.S. who comes across a snake indoors “slowly place an empty pail or wastebasket over [the snake], then put a weight on top to trap the snake until an experienced handler arrives.”

Local animal control services, as well as fire and police departments, can often help remove the reptiles — or put residents in contact with an organization that can help.

source: people.com