RICHMOND, Va. -- A 14-year-old boy was reunited with his pet python Friday in what one animal expert called "the craziest story" he'd experienced.
While Dion Malik Jones and his family drove in a U-Haul truck from Winchester, Virginia to Norfolk this week, his pet python "Nate the Snake" escaped its cage.
"We just knew that it was cold, so, we just looked in the engine, everything, thinking it would find somewhere warm. But, we couldn't find it," Dion's mother Bobbie Jo Brewer said.
The family assumed Nate slithered out of the truck. They were wrong.
The next person to rent the U-Haul was in for a big surprise.
"I just kind of looked and went, 'OK, what the heck?'" U-Haul manager Megan Hamm said when she discovered the snake was left behind in the truck. "Most of the time it's just leftover water bottles. That's way better for me."
Hamm contacted Virginia Wildlife Management & Control, which came and nursed the ball python back to health.
"Inside of a cab of a truck, where there's no heat unless it's running all the time -- [chances of survival are] slim to none," Richard Perry, the owner of Virginia Wildlife Management & Control, said. "I mean that snake was literally on its last breath."
Perry, who has seen a lot in his line of work, said this situation was most unique.
"We do believe that this ranks as the craziest story yet," he said.
On Friday, a healthier Nate the Snake was reunited with his very happy owner.
"I'm really happy. Yes, look at him. He looks so happy," Dion said holding his lost pet.
For the family, Nate is more than a pet. He's a reminder.
Nate is named after Dion's late father. His dad wanted to get Dion a snake, but after his death last year, Dion's mom got him one for his birthday.
"He was just basically the best dad," Dion said.
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