Boston Subway Snake Escapee Found a Month Later

BOSTON, Ma. - Boston's missing boa constrictor has been found, a month after disappearing on a Red Line train on Thursday, January 6. Penelope, the escaping reptile, had slipped away from under a scarf around her owner's neck and ended up on the next subway car.

The three-foot Dumeril's boa constrictor's disappearance led to a subway shutdown on the afternoon of January 6, 2011, when the "T" train passenger discovered her pet had gone missing.

The southbound train, operated by the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority (MBTA), was halted at the JFK/Mass station, while subway staffers searched for the missing (and perhaps hissing) snake. Boston subway dispatchers delayed the Red Line train for several minutes, while Beantown passengers were evacuated.

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At the time, the missing boa constrictor seemed to be nowhere to be found.

MBTA officials searched all six cars of the southbound train again at Braintree, the final stop on the Red Line, but still were unable to locate the apparently non-venomous snake on the train.

At the time, Joe Pesaturo, a spokesman for the MBTA, made this announcement: "The trains are absolutely snake-free. We conducted a search and found nothing."

Melissa Moorhouse (30), the owner of Penelope the intrepid boa constrictor, never gave up. She even posted an advertisement on Craigslist in the Boston area, seeking the return of her pet boa constrictor.

"She is a very mellow snake, never hisses or bites and is very timid," read the Craigslist ad, seeking the elusive snake. "If you find her, please call me @ 413-530-6350 ANYTIME." [sic]

Boston's missing boa constrictor appears a month later.

Now, exactly four weeks later, Penelope has resurfaced. The errant snake, which belongs to Raymond and Melissa Moorhouse, of Allston, Massachusetts, was found on February 3 on the adjacent subway car to the one in which she disappeared on January 6.

Apparently, a Boston subway commuter caught a glimpse of the snake on the morning ride and reported the reclusive reptile to an MBTA attendant at the next stop. The surprised passenger's heads-up led to a ten-hour search of the train by Beantown subway officials.

Finally, around 8:30 p.m., an MBTA employee collared the scaled serpent. Sharon Lynch, the victorious reptile-wrangling subway staffer, actually owns pet snakes at home.

Melissa Moorhouse suggested that her pet snake had probably subsisted on mice, rats or other food sources she might have found during the month while she was missing. Throughout the snake's absence, her reptile-loving owner insisted all along that her snake would be able to survive for quite some time in the subway system.

"Penelope can [slither] into really, really small spaces," Melissa Moorhouse said.