The small ball python snake that went missing in the University Centre last week has been found.

The snake was spotted in a second-floor office of the University Centre around 5:30 p.m. by some students. They contacted Campus Community Police, who found the snake under a desk and put it in a box. It was taken to the Ontario Veterinary College (OVC) for a health check.

The snake was reported missing Thursday by its owner, who brought it to campus in a backpack.

Campus Community Police and pest control specialists from Physical Resources had been searching the building.

The four-year-old snake is brown and black and about two feet long.

“People have nothing to fear from a small ball python,” said Hugues Beaufrère, chief of the Avian and Exotic Medicine Service at OVC. They are not dangerous or venomous, he said, adding that the snake was likely scared and trying to hide some place warm. Beaufrère was contacted by the University to provide expert opinion; the  snake was not a patient at OVC and the snake’s owner is not an OVC student.

People are reminded that pets are not allowed in campus buildings; service dogs are permitted.