Mom finds snake coiled on baby's leg in crib

updated 4:12 p.m. ET June 11, 2008

BRENTWOOD, N.Y. - A Long Island animal shelter is a temporary home for a 1-foot-long snake that a mother found coiled on her 7-month-old daughter's leg as the baby slept in a crib.

Cari Abatemarco of upstate Troy says she was visiting family in Brentwood last week when her baby's cries woke her one night. She tells Newsday that she found a snake wrapped around her daughter's leg.

Abatemarco says she lifted her daughter and the snake fell off. A relative removed the snake from the crib and placed it in a bucket until animal control officers arrived.

The reptile has been identified as a California king, a non-venomous snake that's not indigenous to the region.

Abatemarco says her family doesn't keep snakes as pets. Officials say they don't know where the snake came from.

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