Campus police searching for python on the loose at the University of Guelph

GUELPH, Ont. — Campus police at an Ontario university say they’re searching for a snake believed to be loose in a building that houses the school’s administration offices, cafeteria and food court.

They say the small ball python was reported missing Thursday at the University of Guelph.

Officials say a student brought the reptile to campus in a backpack.

Campus police and pest control specialists are searching the building for the four-year-old brown and black snake that is about 60 centimetres long.

Ball pythons may bite, so people are being warned not to pick it up.

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But Hugues Beaufrere, chief of the Avian and Exotic Medicine Service at the Ontario Veterinary College, says the python isn’t dangerous or venomous.

“People have nothing to fear from a small ball python,” Beaufrere said.

“It is likely scared and trying to hide, looking for some place warm,” he said.

The Canadian Press