Several large snakes seized from woman's Heights home

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Authorities seized more than a dozen snakes from a home in the Houston Heights Wednesday.

"I walked in a room and looked down and I saw the tail of one of the snakes and they are very large snakes," Precinct 1 Constable, Alan Rosen said.

Rosen tells Eyewitness News that 15 snakes were underfed and living in unsafe conditions. Several of the snakes, which include pythons and boa constrictors, were more than 20 feet long.

"Some of the snakes are very large and underweight. All of them were found living in poor environmental conditions," said Meera Nandlal with the Houston SPCA.

"One has a broken back, that she has to actually put around her stomach in order for the snake to use the restroom properly," Rosen added.

It's not clear what the snakes were eating. Some are so big they would require live rabbits or chickens. But investigators say these were pets who lived in the back bedroom.

"She's had them for 15 years. She used to breed snakes, and no longer breeds snakes. And I guess these are some of the residual snakes that were part of the breeding process," Rosen said.

The SPCA is now taking care of the snakes. If further tests confirm they are dangerously unhealthy, the owner could be charged with animal cruelty.

Meanwhile, neighbors say they had no idea there were snakes living next door.

"You never know, some snakes could escape from there and come over here," neighbor Maria Arriazola said.

Many of the snakes were in a back bedroom and had free reign inside. The owner lived in a garage apartment behind the home.