Python pursuit: Campus police searching for snake on the loose at the University of Guelph

Campus police at an Ontario university say they're searching for a snake believed to be loose in a building that houses the school's administration offices, cafeteria and food court.

They say the small ball python was reported missing Thursday at the University of Guelph.

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Officials say a student brought the reptile to campus in a backpack.

Campus police and pest control specialists are searching the building for the four-year-old brown and black snake that is about 60 centimetres long.

Ball pythons may bite, so people are being warned not to pick it up.

But Hugues Beaufrere, chief of the Avian and Exotic Medicine Service at the Ontario Veterinary College, says the python isn't dangerous or venomous.

"People have nothing to fear from a small ball python," Beaufrere said.

"It is likely scared and trying to hide, looking for some place warm," he said.