COULD a snake have hitched a ride from Yishun to Loyang?

That is what Mr Huang Wei Xin and his colleagues suspected after a 3m-long python was found hiding under the former's car last Friday.

Mr Huang, 36, a sales executive, said he left his Yishun flat for his workplace in Loyang Industrial Estate at about 7.10am.

He then parked and rushed off to a meeting, reported Lianhe Wanbao.

About 10mins later, a canteen operator walked past and spotted the python. Said Mr Huang: "She saw the python slithering at the rear of my car. She was so frightened, she immediately called the security guard."

The security guard called a pest control company.

A colleague of Mr Huang's said three pest exterminators soon arrived.

They used metal hooks on long poles to reach the python which was still under Mr Huang's car.

A battle of wills between snake and men played out for nearly two hours before the python was subdued and stuffed into a sack.

Where did the python come from?

Mr Huang and his colleagues said it was unlikely the snake originated from the area around their office as it was in the middle of an industrial estate.

Mr Huang said: "I live along Yishun Street 81, very near the Lower Seletar reservoir. Everyone suspected that the python crawled from the reservoir area to the HDB estate and 'hitched a ride' with me to the office."

It is not known which pest control company the security guard had called.

However, the director of another pest control company PestGuards, Mr Solomon Anthony, said it was "highly unlikely" that the python had hitched a ride as speculated.

He said: "A snake of that length would be too thick and large to hide under a car. There wouldn't have been space.

"Even if it was a big vehicle, like a jeep, the snake would have been burnt or dropped off along the way as the car had travelled quite a distance."

Snake got on at Loyang?

Mr Anthony, 36, said it probably crawled under the car after it had been parked.

He said it is "not uncommon" to find snakes in Loyang Industrial Estate because there are rats there.

He pointed out: "Snakes eat rats, which appear wherever there are people living and eating.

"A huge snake was previously found in Tampines HDB estate, near the rubbish collection area."

Mr Anthony said snakes, being cold-blooded creatures, will crawl under cars that have just been parked for the warmth, especially early in the morning or late at night.

He said it usually costs between $250 to $350 to catch a snake in such a situation.

He said the snakes are then released in a nature reserve. Snakes measuring more than 5m in length are handed to the zoo.

He added that snakes found hiding under cars are "no danger... as their first reaction will be to run away or hide".

"If the snake sees the driver as a threat, it will bite as a last resort, but pythons aren't poisonous."

Their bites leave a semi-circular row of punctures while venomous snake bites leave two punctures in the skin.

If bitten by a poisonous snake, bandage the area tightly to slow the absorption of the venom before seeking treatment at a hospital immediately.

For some, however, snakes mean good luck. MrHuang said some of his colleagues bought 4D based on his car licence plate number.

- Additional reporting by Celine Lim

This article was published in The New Paper on Nov 18, 2008.