This wild snake needed a stomach operation after he swallowed a doorknob.
The western rat snake was used to catch rodents outside a family's chicken coop in their garden in Ballwin, Missouri.
The family had placed an old white doorknob on the ground as a 'dummy egg' to encourage hens to lay.
But they were stunned when they found the reptile sprawled out on the ground with an enormous bump in his stomach.
Incredible X-rays taken by veterinarians showed the white outline of the doorknob lodged half-way down his long body.
Surgeons operated on the snake - now nicknamed 'Doorknob' - and returned him to the wild to carry on catching rats.
Kim Rutledge from the Wildlife Rescue Centre in Ballwin, Missouri, said: 'The family would "employ" him to catch rodents from their chicken coup.'
The snake spent several months recovering and allowing the six-inch long wound to heal.
But the family encouraged the animal to keep returning to their garden because it was eating rats and he has since been released back onto the property where he was found.
Ms. Rutledge added: 'We don't name our wildlife patients, but everyone just called him "Doorknob".
'He was a super cool, well-mannered snake over six feet long. It's a great story from beginning to end.'
Donate WildLife: https://goo.gl/KvXtbg
Music: "Inspired" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Source: Wild Life Missouri , Daily Mail
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/patryn.worldlatestnews
The western rat snake was used to catch rodents outside a family's chicken coop in their garden in Ballwin, Missouri.
The family had placed an old white doorknob on the ground as a 'dummy egg' to encourage hens to lay.
But they were stunned when they found the reptile sprawled out on the ground with an enormous bump in his stomach.
Incredible X-rays taken by veterinarians showed the white outline of the doorknob lodged half-way down his long body.
Surgeons operated on the snake - now nicknamed 'Doorknob' - and returned him to the wild to carry on catching rats.
Kim Rutledge from the Wildlife Rescue Centre in Ballwin, Missouri, said: 'The family would "employ" him to catch rodents from their chicken coup.'
The snake spent several months recovering and allowing the six-inch long wound to heal.
But the family encouraged the animal to keep returning to their garden because it was eating rats and he has since been released back onto the property where he was found.
Ms. Rutledge added: 'We don't name our wildlife patients, but everyone just called him "Doorknob".
'He was a super cool, well-mannered snake over six feet long. It's a great story from beginning to end.'
Donate WildLife: https://goo.gl/KvXtbg
Music: "Inspired" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Source: Wild Life Missouri , Daily Mail
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/patryn.worldlatestnews
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