Warning: This story contains imagery some viewers may find disturbing.
An Edmonton man says he hasn't slept well since finding a metre-long snake that's native to the eastern and southern American states behind his couch.
The thought that keeps Adel Al-Abodi awake is: "How long?" As in: How long was the snake in his apartment?
The downtown Edmonton resident had just returned to his unit late Sunday morning when he noticed movement in his peripheral vision.
"Looked like a tail," he thought, pulling his sofa away from the wall.
By his estimate, the black snake he found was at least a metre long, perhaps two.
It began moving and Al-Abodi panicked, swinging and hitting the reptile with a tool.
"The snake started moving to attack me. But I hit it again," he told CTV News Edmonton in an interview on Tuesday.
"I was really scar[ed]. I felt in danger."
At that point, the snake was badly injured and barely moving. Al-Abodi called his building manager and the police.
A city spokesperson confirmed a snake was removed from a unit at 9903 105 Street, noting "it was injured prior to arrival and had to be euthanized."
In his panic, Al-Abodi recalled a snake escaping and killing two kids in eastern Canada in 2013.
But that was a python. Edmonton's experts say Al-Abodi found a common corn snake.
The latter are sometimes called rat snakes. According to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., corn snakes are constrictors which wrap themselves around prey to subdue it. They can swallow smaller prey whole and range in length from 61 to 182 centimetres.
The city spokesperson said the Animal Care and Control Centre is investigating where the snake came from, but Al-Abodi says the building manager told him it was a neighbour's pet.
According to him, no pets are allowed.
"It was less than one metre away from where I slept," Al-Abodi said.
"Yesterday night and the day before, I couldn't sleep in the night. I feel danger. Sometimes I jump."
But, overall, he considers the experience part of the natural rhythm of life.
"This is our life: One day up, next day down."
An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported Har-Par Investments Ltd. managed the property, as a person at the head office told CTV News Edmonton on Tuesday. However, Har-Par Investments later said it does not manage Adel Al-Abodi's property, and that the downtown building was confused for a property by a similar name it manages in southwest Edmonton.
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