CHATSWORTH : Horseback Rider Finds Dead Snake

Larry Bowers came across an unusual obstacle during his Monday morning horseback ride through the Chatsworth Hills--a decapitated, 15-foot snake.

Bowers said he was riding just above and to the west of Tampa Avenue when he spotted what he thought was a series of trash bags strewn along the trail ahead of him. As he approached, he said, he could see that it was a large, tan-colored snake with dark brown markings.

“The (severed) head was immediately in front of it, so I didn’t know at first that it was dead,” Bowers said. “It’s mind-boggling, the size of it. It’s about a foot and a half around.”

Even more mind-boggling to Bowers, he said, was that no authority he called seemed very interested in the reptile.

So rather than let someone else claim the prize, he enlisted a helper and carted the roughly 250-pound beast back to his horse ranch in the bed of his pickup truck.

Pete Klaidman, manager of Exotic Life pet store in Chatsworth, said he would guess by the description that the snake is an African rock python, a not-so-rare reptile that he said sells for $300 to $400.

Bowers said he has plans for his find. “It’s beautiful,” he said. “I’m going to skin him. I bet his hide is worth $300 or $400.”