Holbrook woman finds python in couch while cleaning apartment

A Holbrook woman found more than pennies while cleaning a couch Monday morning inside a basement apartment. When she lifted up one of the cushions, she discovered a 3-foot-long ball python.

The Suffolk County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was called to the Pond Path apartment to rescue the snake.

Suffolk County SPCA Chief Roy Gross said the woman and her husband, Peter Wang, were cleaning the apartment, which had recently been vacated, when she uncovered the snake.

Wang called the Town of Brookhaven Holtsville Ecology Center, which then contacted the Suffolk SPCA.

According to the SPCA, the python belonged to the apartment's former tenant, and the upstairs tenant was going to care for it, but it got loose.

Gross said ball pythons are legal to own and no charges have been filed.