Paco the Python makes 1,600-kilometer journey

The 1-meter long python with brown and yellow markings, had been out of sight for a month, having slithered off somewhere during one of his regular furloughs from his cage.

A Missouri family's pet snake, missing for a month, turned up alive and slithering in a box they had sent to New Jersey, about 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) away. The box contained a DVD player that was being sent for repairs. The family believes Paco the Python crawled into the box before they sealed it and sent it to the factory via UPS.

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Sheila Himmerick said her family had been looking for the snake when she received a call from Samsung's New Jersey repair shop, CVE Inc., wondering if the snake in the box belonged to her and whether it was her way of expressing customer dissatisfaction. "My heart fell," said Himmerick, 38, of Jefferson City, Missouri. "You just get that lump in your throat. It was just, 'Oh, my God! What have I done?"'

Paco, a 1-meter, 1.8 kilogram (3-foot, 4-pound) ball python with brown and yellow markings, had been out of sight for a month, having slithered off somewhere during one of his regular furloughs from his cage.