Fire officials say a Massachusetts man has been bitten by a boa constrictor he tried to pick up in the woods of Cape Cod.
Hyannis firefighter Andrew Kleamenakis tells the Cape Cod Times the 20-year-old man was on his way home in Barnstable on Monday when spotted a 6- to 8-foot long snake feeding on a dead animal, possibly a rat.
The snake bit him when he tried to pick it up.
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Boas kill their prey by squeezing it to death and they are not venomous, but the man went to hospital as a precaution to prevent infection. His name wasn’t released.
Police took custody of the snake, which fire officials think was somebody’s pet.