A boa constrictor that spooked a South Florida community and was threatened with gunfire and a shovel is an escaped pet named Pedro.

The snake, which is 5 to 7-feet long, took an unauthorized field trip after commotion over his owner’s pregnant wife going into labor somehow facilitated his release, said Riviera Beach Police Department spokesman Mike Jachles.

Jachles said the snake is about 20 years old and that the owner has had it since he was 15 years old.

“At this point, I don’t know what’s going to happen. We don’t have anything pending against him,” Jachles said about the owner. “He said it had never happened before and that somehow in the frenzy of him caring for his wife and rushing out, it got out.”

Initially, Pedro was mistaken as a Burmese python when he was first encountered March 1 by Jay Slagle outside of his home. Slagle was on his way to work at the high-end Louis Vuitton shop in the Palm Beach Gardens Mall.

Slagle’s development is next to a pocket of dense forest and neighbors considered it possible that the snake had come from the wooded area.

Pythons are a damaging invasive species in Florida and can be humanely killed year-round without a permit.

Slagle, 65 and armed with a shovel, said he wasn’t prepared to kill Pedro because he was dressed for work, the snake was docile and he “wanted to keep some good karma and not dispatch it” himself.

“I’ve lived here since 2003 and have never seen anything like this,” Slagle said. “We get a lot of critters because of the wildlife preserve but not snakes.”

His neighbor may have had different ideas when he called 911 about Pedro.

“There’s a big a-- python in front of my door,” the neighbor said according to the 911 recording. “I’m about to shoot it. I don’t want to get charged with discharging a firearm in a residential area. I’m just saying.”

Riviera Beach Police Officer Josh Wilson arrived and helped Slagle wrangle the snake into a trash bin. A trapper was called and he also mistook Pedro for a python.

Experts said it can be easy to confuse pythons with boa constrictors, especially for a lay person.

Burmese pythons, and five other python species, are considered high risk prohibited species in Florida. They cannot be owned except by entities for purposes of research, educational exhibition, and control or eradication. Pythons became becoming established in Florida in the mid-1980s. Their voracious appetites have so harmed the Everglades mammal population that the state has full-time contract hunters who are paid hourly to find and kill the snakes.

Boa constrictors are not a prohibited species in Florida and can be kept as pets without a permit or license. A Florida Museum of Natural History website said boa constrictors lived wild in Florida possibly as far back as the 1970s but have only one established breeding population in and around the Charles Deering Estate in Miami.

While pythons have bold, dark blotches on their skin like a giraffe, boa constrictors have more hourglass-shaped markings on skin that is tan, light brown, grayish brown or cream colored.

Python hunter Taylor Stanberry, who won the $10,000 grand prize in the 2025 Florida Python Challenge, said boa constrictors can make good pets if they are handled often.

Aneth McCarthy, assistant director and lead curator at McCarthy’s Wildlife Sanctuary in unincorporated West Palm Beach agreed.

"Boa constrictors can be very friendly if you handle them a lot," McCarthy said. "But when it comes time to eat, they don't think it's a friendly time and they can bite. I don't think they are the best snakes to keep."

At some point, Jachles said someone realized Pedro was a red-tailed boa constrictor, which saved its life.

As of March 4, Pedro was at a rescue facility, Jachles said.

“When a cat gets stuck in a tree, they call the fire department. When a snake gets out, they call the police department,” Jachles said.

It was unknown what Pedro’s owner has planned for his 20-year companion.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has an Exotic Pet Amnesty Program that connects owners of nonnative pets who can no longer care for them with qualified adopters who can provide the animals with new homes.

To participate, pet owners can email: PetAmnesty@MyFWC.com or call 888-IVE-GOT1 (483-4681), ext. 1

McCarthy said her sanctuary could also adopt Pedro.

“I hope we get the call,” McCarthy said. “If they call, we will take it. We have room.”

Kimberly Miller is a journalist for the USA TODAY NETWORK FLORIDA. She covers weather, the environment and critters as the Embracing Florida reporter. If you have news tips, please send them to kmiller@pbpost.com. You can get all of Florida’s best content directly in your inbox each weekday by signing up for the free newsletter, Florida TODAY, at palmbeachpost.com/newsletters.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Escaped boa constrictor Pedro lands in rescue after South Florida scare