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Snakes not on a plane: Basehor father, son go viral from KCK

KCK snake on truck.jpg
Posted at 7:23 PM, Jun 27, 2019
and last updated 2019-06-28 14:41:53-04

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — You have to wonder what Samuel L. Jackson would say.

It wasn’t exactly “Snakes on a Plane,” but Chris Henderson and his dad, Bob, had a close encounter of the reptilian kind.

A long, non-venomous snake — a 5-foot-long Western rat snake, or black rat snake — crawled on Bob’s truck Tuesday in Kansas City, Kansas, as he ran errands.

While driving along Parallel Parkway near Providence Medical Center at 4:45 p.m., the snake snaked around the passenger window as the truck drove down the road.

Bob lost his mind.

Chris grabbed his camera.

"You see a snake dangling from your mirror, what are you going to do?" Chris said.

Snakes not on a plane: Basehor father, son go viral from KCK

The father and son have no idea where the snake was hiding out. They had been on the road for about fifteen minutes when it emerged.

"It had to be either under the hood or underneath the car," Chris said.

Bob added, "On top of the truck? I don't know."

Luckily, Western rat snakes are not dangerous, but Marc Herff, a wildlife technician with A All Animal Control, said it's the species he most frequently encounters on properties.

They consume rats and mice and enjoy shady, covered spots.

"I mean the best thing you can do to keep them off your property is to keep your landscaping nice and trim, but there's always a chance you might find one on your windshield apparently," Herff said.

The Hendersons were eventually able to shed the slithering stowaway. As the snake tried to crawl across the windshield Bob flicked the windshield wiper and sent the animal flying toward a grassy median.

When Chris posted the video to social media, it went viral.

The father and son from Basehor said they saw the snake crawl away in the mirror and don’t think it was seriously injured in the ordeal.

Fortunately, neither were Chris and Bob.

"No more snakes on a truck for me," Chris said.