Herpetological hitchhiker found under a Scottsdale man's truck

"A slithering stowaway, a herpetological hitchhiker, a boa in my undercarriage...oh my!" could have been Aaron Rick's remix of Dorothy's Wizard of Oz refrain when he discovered a surprise passenger under his truck Tuesday.

Ricks, a sales account manager, had spent the morning driving from Mesa to Scottsdale, stopping by his office before he headed out to a local Scottsdale restaurant on his lunch hour.

He parked in the restaurant lot and walked a couple of yards away before something caught his eye. Something moving under his truck. "Huh? A paper bag? Trash?" he thought as he bent down to get a closer look. He was about to reach under to pull it out...until it moved.

He realized it was a snake. 'A big snake!'

"I pretty much froze, like a deer in headlights," Ricks said.

The snake uncoiled and hung down between the engine and the tire, looking at him with yellow beady eyes. In what may have felt like an eternity, Ricks managed to snap a couple of photos and video from a safe distance before the snake recoiled and slithered upwards into the engine again.

"I don't know a lot about snakes, but I realized it wasn't a rattlesnake, it was a python, "Ricks said, "I just thought it was super strange."

He called the Scottsdale Police Department to report the incident and the dispatcher attempted to hold in her giggles before passing the call along to the Scottsdale Fire Department.

When the firefighters arrived, they were skeptical about the presence of a python, according to Ricks. That is until he showed them the photos and video he'd managed to take before the snake had slithered back under the truck.

"That has to be top ten, right?" he said, about the uniqueness of the call.

"Top five easy," the firefighters joked, according to Ricks.

The firefighters were able to safely retrieve the snake after removing the truck's skid plate and identified that the snake was, in fact, a boa constrictor. It is likely someone's pet based on the size and health of it, fire officials said.

Firefighters placed the boa in a box and turned it over to the Arizona Herpetological Society for safe handling and care.

It is unclear where Ricks picked up his stow-away passenger since he had traveled between Mesa and Scottsdale during his workday.

"And now I have a new fear unlocked. Now I got to check under the car for snakes," Ricks said, "I'm just laughing about it now. Hopefully, that was the first and last time."

Hopefully, just like lightning, hitchhiking boas in the undercarriage only strike once.

Contact the Arizona Herpetological Society at 480-513-4377 for information if you think you may be the owner.