HOUSTON — It's hot in Houston, and humans aren't the only ones feeling the heat.
A Heights resident thinks that's why an unwanted guest made its way into her garage.
On Friday night, Kayte Tipton walked into her garage around midnight and was met by a photogenic, albeit startling, new friend.
"So I turned on the light, and here's this large snake looking back at me," she said. "My immediate thought was I needed to call out the United States Marine Corps, but I didn't think that they would come over, so I took a picture of it for some reason and I slammed the door and came back in my house. It was posing. It smiled at me."
As nice as Tipton, she said she didn't need a new friend, so she took to Nextdoor to get help.
"Many, many people said what it was, of course, a rat snake. And I don't have any rats," she said.
After a sleepless night, she called her gardener, but he couldn't find it. They assumed it was gone, but then on Sunday, it slithered back into sight. This time, she called Sal Santelli, with Houston Tortoise Rescue (@htxtortoiserescue).
"Acted like it was nothing. It was his best friend," Tipton said.
Sal gave the snake food and water and then released it.
Tipton said that she thinks the snake was trying to get away from the heat.
"As hot as it is, it just went in there. The door was open, it was shady. It got out of the heat trying to cope with this weather like the rest of us are, I suppose," she said.