News : Florida corn snake surprises Vinton woman

A corn snake apparently from Florida made the journey to Vinton in the back of a vehicle.

At times, a grocery store carry-out worker gets a request that is not exactly part of his or her written job description. Such an incident happened Tuesday morning at Fareway, where a customer who had recently returned from Fareway opened her vehicle in the parking lot to discover that a corn snake had apparently caught a ride in Florida.

The woman had never seen a snake like that before. She was concerned about the potential danger of the snake and asked Fareway workers for assistance. They found a small trash can and put the snake there while they tried to contact someone from the Benton County Conservation Department for advice about what best to to for the snake.

The snake found in the car was about 15 inches long. Despite the woman's fear, corn snakes are favorite pets because of their small size (3-4 feet fully grown) and their reluctance to bite. They are called corn snakes because they were often found near corn storage areas, where they would prey on mice attracted to the areas by the grain.