Pet Store snakes

Rachael Rafanelli, KGW

Surveillance video catches man stealing snake from Portland pet store.

PORTLAND, Ore. - Portland police are looking for a man who walked into a Southeast Portland pet store and stole a snake by stuffing it down his pants.

Video shows the man walking into the store with a woman at about 2 p.m. He makes his way to the back of the store, to the snake area, sticks his hand in the tank, and takes out a black pastel ball python. He can be seen on surveillance video stuffing the python into his pants and walking out.

Store co-owner and manager Christin Bjugan tells KGW the snake is about 2 feet long, and was being sold for $200. She says this type of snake isn’t aggressive. But on that day, the man got lucky.

“It was close to feeding day. The snakes are very hungry, I know when I go back there on a Saturday or Sunday even, the snakes are up against the glass looking for food, " she said. "So he made it in the nick of time. They like dark warm places so he was probably very comfortable where he was at.”

Despite the humor, she says, the whole incident makes her mad. A to Z Pets is a family store, they work hard, and have been in the community for 20 years.