CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. — When a package from Amazon arrived at their door, Charene and Njeri Rucker expected to find the purple collapsible storage bins they ordered from the site.
Instead, the couple said they found a small snake inside the package delivered to their Clayton County home.
"I opened it and then I pulled it out and something hit the floor. I didn't know what it was," Charene Rucker told Channel 2's Christian Jennings.
The Ruckers told Jennings their first reaction was to get their 1-year-old son out of harm’s way. The couple later learned the snake was a non-venomous, banded watersnake.
The couple was unsure of what to do before they finally got in touch with animal control experts in Hampton and paid $425 to have it removed.
It is unknown when the snake actually got inside the package.
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Jennings spoke with animal control expert Nick Jackson, who said it was unusual, but not impossible, for the snake to survive.
"They have a slow metabolism for the most part and it's dependent upon their environment. If their environment is cooler, like a package or a warehouse, they can go a while without food or water," Jackson told Jennings.
The Ruckers said Amazon is refunding them the $15 they spent on their order, but they have also requested the company pay the $425 bill.
Channel 2 Action News reached out to Amazon directly, but we were told the company would have nothing further to add.
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