Snake Found at Market Basket in Manchester is Native to Ecuador

Can you imagine shopping for bananas and coming across a 2 foot long venomous snake? This happened at the Market Basket store in Manchester, New Hampshire, on Valentine's day of all days! I can't think of anything less romantic.

Who found the snake?

According to WMUR, the snake was discovered by an employee who really didn't seem too bothered about the whole thing. Apparently this particular employee was quite familiar with snakes. Thank goodness he's the one who discovered the little (not really so little) critter.

What kind of snake was it?

New Hampshire Fish and Game identified the snake as a a two-foot-long Ornate Cat-eye, a mildly venomous snake species that is native to Ecuador.

NH Fish and Game Law Enforcement Division and Operation Game Thief via Facebook

The snake was unharmed and was donated to Rainforest Reptiles Shows which puts on traveling animal and reptile shows for kids birthday parties out of Beverly, Massachusetts. This snake started out living the lazy life in a box of bananas, got discovered and is now in show business! I'm telling you, like can change on a dime.

This story was shared on the New Hampshire Reddit page as most important New Hampshire stories are. We had a lot of people making the "well, he got more for his dollar" joke, which was amusing the first 20 times.

Another Reddit user was compelled to share this similar tale:

"I was working in the produce department of a market basket circa 2008. Wrapping girl: "That banana looks pregnant" Me: "ooh let's cut it open and see what's inside" Wrapping girl: "noooooo that's gross" Me: it's probably nothing" Cut into the banana and found a bunch of dead baby tarantulas and a dead momma tarantula. Needless to say I was very careful around bananas for some time."

YIKES. Have you ever found an unwelcome creature in your produce? What was it?

7 Invasive Insect Species That Can Damage Crops and Other Plants in New Hampshire

In an effort to inform the public on the types of invasive species that are known to be found in their state, the USDA offers a handy dandy "Pest Tracker". This allows you to simply click the name of your state from the drop-down menu provided to see pictures of the different insects and weeds, along with descriptions of the type of plant life they target and the damage they can do if they're not dealt with.

Gallery Credit: Kira