The search continued Thursday for the owner of a nearly 6-foot-long snake that slithered out of the toilet in an office restroom in downtown San Diego.

On Tuesday, an urban legend of major metropolitan sewer systems and the worst fears of one Stephanie Lasca, co-founder of Vertical PR + Marketing, came together in her office bathroom when the Columbian rainbow boa flicked its tongue and poked its head out from within the porcelain throne.

The Colombian rainbow boa that emerged from a San Diego office toilet is currently being held at an animal care facility in San Diego. County of San Diego Department of Animal Services

“I thought my eyes were deceiving me,” Lasca said. “This is every person’s worst nightmare.”

She said she screamed and ran from the bathroom, slamming the door and calling the San Diego County Department of Animal Services.

A department employee found the reptile curled up behind the toilet. It was removed and is being tended to at an animal care center.

Officials said the snake probably had not just entered the plumbing because it was underweight and shedding, but they don’t know how it would have survived for an extended period of time. There are no pet stores nearby, so the thinking goes that the animal must belong to someone.

If its owner is not located, the snake will be given to a group with experience with boas, said Dan DeSousa, deputy director of the Department of Animal Services.

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