Edmonton boy shocked at finding hissing king snake in his sneaker

Jodi Dahl has an unwanted house guest that's making her skin crawl asnake that secretly slithered its way into her son's sneaker at their Edmonton home.

Theintruder, believed to be a constrictor or king snake, was found Saturday morning, coiledup inside her 11-year-old son's shoe.

Blake Dahl was getting ready to leave for hockey practice when he got the unpleasant surprise.

"It's hissing at me!" Blake exclaimed as his shaking hands captured footage of the snake on his camera phone.

After calling his dad for backup, Blake shook thesnake out of hisshoe, scoopingit into a plastic food container.

By the time Jodi got word of the snake's arrival,the creaturehad settled into itsnew digs.

"They had hauled an old aquarium out of the basement and they built him a very nice new home," she said during a Tuesday morning interview on CBC Radio's Edmonton AM.

The family has since done some research and found out their uninvited house guest is likely a baby king snake, a constrictor that coils around its prey.

Covered with black and tawny scales, the non-venomous creature is not native to Alberta and is probably an escaped pet.

Exactly how the stowaway made itsway into the house remains a mystery. But Dahl thinks he may have hitched a ride inside acrate of food they had delivered last week.

Although Blake has grown fond of his new friend, the snake has worn out its welcome as far as Jodi is concerned.

The snakea common pet type among reptile-loverswill be staying with a family friend until a more permanent home can be found.

"Blake's pretty upset," admitted his mother.

"He really thought we were going to keep the snake. But he's leaving,"Jodi added."He's gone."