Published 12:00 am Wednesday, March 12, 2014

CHARLOTTE (AP) — Officials are searching for a ball python that they say was taken from a Charlotte school science lab.
The Charlotte Observer reports (http://bit.ly/1esNJJ2 ) that a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools spokeswoman confirmed the snake was stolen from the lab at Northwest School of the Arts.
Ball pythons are non-venomous snakes. They are constrictors that crush their prey.
According to the website www.ball-pythons.net, ball pythons are popular as pets because of their docile nature. They also are among the smaller pythons, growing no more than 3 to 5 feet in length.
Officials didn’t say how big the missing snake is.
She said officials are looking at videotape to determine who was responsible for the theft.
Information from: The Charlotte Observer, http://www.charlotteobserver.com