A trip to the bathroom became the stuff of urban legend when a woman found a 0.6-metre python in her sixth floor Annex apartment.

Police said they were called to 70 Spadina Rd. just before 11:30 p.m. Sunday after the woman saw the snake on the bathroom floor. Although Toronto Animal Services typically deals with loose critters, because of the late hour, the officers did the dirty work themselves.

“They arrested the snake,” said building superintendent Irene Hryszkiewicz.

The young ball python was taken to Animal Services in North York. Full-grown ball pythons can grow up to 1.5 metres.

Staff Sgt. Robert Stewart said the snake is likely a pet, but he has no idea how it arrived in the bathroom.

“I can only guess that it came up through the toilet. I hear stories!” he said.

But Ben Lovatt, who runs the Earth Exotics pet store and owns four ball pythons of his own, said these snakes don’t particularly like spending time in the plumbing system.

“It’s too humid for them,” he said, noting the reptile is native to sub-Saharan Africa.

The woman whose apartment the snake was found in could not be reached for comment Monday afternoon.

Hryszkiewicz said they don’t know who owns the snake as no one has come forward yet.

“I want to find out, because I’m really scared,” she said with a laugh. “Why doesn’t he have a dog? Why a snake?”

Robert Meerburg, an Animal Services education officer, said such snake calls are “not uncommon.”

Last October, two runaway pythons were discovered in a single night in separate homes on Woolner Ave.

If you find a snake in your home, Meerburg recommended containing it and calling Animal Services. If the type is native to the area, dispatchers may suggest you simply shoo it out of your home, he said.

But if it’s a python, Lovatt said there’s no need to worry.

Their bite is akin to a bee sting, he said, and it’s extremely rare that a docile, captivity-bred python will bite at all. Ball pythons are constrictors and not poisonous.

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“I could hand a ball python to a 10-year-old and leave the room and have zero concerns.”

In the meantime, the python is safely ensconced in an aquarium at the shelter, where it awaits pickup by its owners.