Technician startled by baby ball python in air-conditioning unit at Mississippi home

Conner Smith opened the unit at the Gulfport home of Steve Ramos and found the repitle, WLOX reported.

Smith told Ramos he had found his pet snake, but the homeowner said he did not own one, the television station reported.

"I've been having problems with rats on the roof," Ramos told WLOX. "At night, I would hear a thud on the roof, and I think it may have been that python dropping out of the tree and gorging himself on the rats. My dogs have been going nuts barking at that tree."

One of Smith's co-workers identified the reptile as a year-old ball python. The co-worker took the snake to an animal refuge center, the television station reported.

"So, he's in a nice, safe home," Smith told WLOX.

Ramos was relieved.

“If they hadn’t found it, I wonder how long that thing would have lived around here until my dog went missing... or I went missing,” Ramos told the television station.