(Trinidad Guardian) Valentine’s Day turned out to be a scary experience for an elderly couple when they woke up to find a four-feet macajuel in their bedroom ceiling yesterday.
Robin Nagessar, 73, and his wife Sumintra, 61, remained outside their home for about four hours until the snake was captured by senior Game Warden Steve Seepersad.
Recalling the scary encounter, Nagessar said he got up around 3 am because his wife had to go out.
“I put on my television and make up my bed because my wife had to go out early this morning,” he said.
Nagessar said he saw the snake around 6.30 am when he was about to apply medication in his eyes.
“I see something in the ceiling so I put on the other light when I see the thing. I wanted to kill it but I am a hunter so when I see it I say it is a macajuel so no sense killing it.”
He said he did not attempt to capture it because he was too afraid.
His wife recalled, “I was washing wares when my husband say come and see something. When I gone closer I see something big snake sitting down, watching. I get frighten. I stayed out of the house until about 12 o’clock when they move it. I was too frighten to go back inside.”
She suspected that the snake crawled out of the bushes and into their house during the night.
“I telling my cousin I get a snake for Valentine’s,” she chuckled.
Their daughter, who lives nearby with her husband, called the Fire Service which then contacted the game warden.
Seepersad said he found the two-year-old macajuel, a red tail boa, in the ceiling between the galvanise and rafter. He described the snake as a baby as it usually grows to about 12 feet long.
“It is definitely non-venomous. If it were to bite you, it would bite you as if you got a bite from a dog,” Seepersad said.
Seepersad suspect that the snake sought refuge in the couple’s home from the bush fires. He said the snake is protected and anyone who kills it could face a fine of $10,000. He noted that the fine was increased from $200 to $10,000 as of January 1.
With leptospirosis rampant in the country, he said a non-venomous snake might be a good animal to have around the house since it eats rats and other small animals.
However, he cautioned against people trying to capture or kill the snake.
“The general phobia in Trinidad or in the world is if someone sees a snake is to kill it, that is wrong. So if you afraid of snake the best thing to do is call the authorities and let them deal with it.”
