CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. — When a package from Amazon arrived at their door, Charene and Njeri Rucker expected to find the purple collapsible storage bins they ordered from the site.
Instead, the couple said they found a small snake inside the package delivered to their Clayton County home.
"I opened it and then I pulled it out and something hit the floor. I didn't know what it was," Charene Rucker told Channel 2's Christian Jennings.
The couple was unsure of what to do before they finally got in touch with animal control experts in Hampton and paid $425 to have it removed.
The Ruckers told Jennings their first reaction was to get their 1-year-old son out of harm’s way. The couple later learned the snake was a non-venomous, banded watersnake.
It is unknown when the snake actually got inside the package.
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Jennings spoke with animal control expert Nick Jackson, who said it was unusual, but not impossible, for the snake to survive.
"They have a slow metabolism for the most part and it's dependent upon their environment. If their environment is cooler, like a package or a warehouse, they can go a while without food or water," Jackson told Jennings.
The Ruckers said Amazon is refunding them the $15 they spent on their order, but they have also requested the company pay the $425 bill.
Channel 2 Action News reached out to Amazon directly, but we were told the company would have nothing further to add.