'I saw a tail that definitely didn't look like my cat's': Keokuk woman finds python

KEOKUK, Iowa (KTVO) — What is often a terrifying topic of nightmares for many people became reality for a southeast Iowa woman this week.

Violet (who asked that we not reveal her last name), of Keokuk, got up at 2 a.m. Thursday to use the bathroom in her apartment when she made a horrifying discovery.

“I looked into my bathroom,” Violet told KTVO. “I saw a tail that definitely didn’t look like my cat’s [tail], so I rubbed my eyes and did a double take.”

When she peeked around the corner, there it was. An approximately two-foot-long python, which doesn’t belong to her, was slithering its way toward her toilet.

Violet, who is completely petrified of snakes, said she screamed and ran to her living room to call 911.

“I thought to call dispatch to see if they could send someone out to remove it because it definitely wasn’t going to be me [who removed it],” Violet said.

The dispatcher sent Keokuk Police Officer Zach Mullin to rescue Violet from her nightmare-like situation.

Mullin bravely picked up the reptile and removed it from Violet’s apartment.

Police said they don’t believe the snake got in through the plumbing, but they think it came from another apartment in the complex.

It’s unclear how it made its way from its rightful apartment into Violet’s bathroom.

The snake was taken to Keokuk Animal Services until its owner can be located.

As of mid-afternoon Friday, no one had shown up to claim it.