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Officer corrals 5-foot boa constrictor from Clearwater business

"If it was a spider, I'm out. But I'm OK with snakes," Officer Devin Matheny said.

CLEARWATER, Fla. — One brave Clearwater police officer came to the rescue after some local business owners got a slithery surprise early Monday morning.

Officer Devin Matheny got a call around 5 a.m. about a snake inside a business on Drew Street near Keene Road. Photos from inside the building show a red-tailed boa constrictor woven around a grate in front of a window.

According to the police department, Matheny didn't hesitate to grab some gloves and a towel to capture the wayward reptile. She singlehandedly corraled the 5-foot boa and took it to the vet in the safety of a cooler.

"If it was a spider, I'm out. But I'm OK with snakes," Officer Matheny said in the department's Facebook post.

According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, red-tailed boas are native to Central and South America but are commonly kept as pets. The snakes sometimes escape or are released by their owners into the wild.

Although a 5-foot snake may seem pretty big, the FWC says boas are typically around 8 feet long and can reach up to 13 feet.

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