A screenshot from Tiffany Hawkins' Facebook live stream shows TIE Fighter, the pet snake living in a basement at 129 Stoddard Ave., in the bag he was transported in after he was recovered Wednesday night.
PITTSFIELD — TIE Fighter, the missing pet snake living in a Stoddard Avenue basement, has been returned home safely after a group of reptile enthusiasts launched a full-scale rescue effort.
TIE Fighter was recovered by his owners, Amanda Sprouse and her 12-year-old son Kingston, after they saw him emerge on a camera that had been set up to monitor the basement. The snake had been missing for three months.
Eileen Conway, a reptile lover who assisted every step of the way with the effort, said Kingston was the one to finally grab the snake and secure him Wednesday night. Sprouse said on Facebook that “after 3 long months and help from two awesome women, we got him home.”
Those two awesome women were Conway and Kelsey Robitaille, two snake enthusiasts who answered the call Monday night to remove the corn snake from the basement safely.
The bright orange snake was first discovered by tenants in the duplex at 129 Stoddard Ave. on Sept. 24, causing resident Tiffany Hawkins to sound the alarm for help on Facebook just about a week later after efforts from local agencies stalled.
After he was spotted, TIE Fighter retreated into insulation in the ceiling of the basement and proved difficult to remove.
Hawkins’ Facebook post also drew Sprouse, who was following up on the lead to find her son’s lost snake.
The rescue crew employed a number of tactics, including attempts to lure TIE Fighter out with mouse bait and setting up attractive enclosures. Conway said she had even secured an endoscope (a camera that can be moved with a remote control, often inserted into cavities of the body for medical purposes), but fell short of using it after TIE Fighter was found with another camera.
Eileen Conway and Kelsey Robitaille searched the basement of the duplex at 129 Stoddard Ave. for any sign of the snake believed to be living there on Monday night.
Hawkins watched from her car Wednesday night, still not quite ready to see the snake in-person, but took to Facebook live to document the snake’s triumphant departure. Her two daughters, 5-year-old Regianah and 7-year-old Miracle, can be seen skipping around in the front yard of the house, singing “We found the snake! We found the snake!”
Hawkins can be heard saying “finally,” before she handed the phone to Regianah to show the snake in the bag that it was transported out of the house in.
Hawkins is relieved that TIE Fighter is out of her basement. And though she still isn’t fond of snakes, she said she feels she’s taken some steps in the right direction to conquering her fears, helped in part by Conway’s assurances that the snake would rather hide than go into her (at that time cold) house.
“She kept telling me, ‘Why would he leave the spot where he’s comfortable to come over and freeze?’” Hawkins said with a laugh. “So yeah, they did make me feel a little bit better.”
On Facebook, Hawkins also thanked Conway and Robitaille for their help and dedication, and said the fact that they helped out of the kindness of their hearts “just proves there are still good people in the world.” She was also happy for Kingston.
Looking back on a job well done, Conway said she asked both Robitaille and Sprouse about forming a “reptile squad” amid the “jumping and hugging” that the three of them did in celebration of returning TIE Fighter home. The idea is simple: Help out when snakes and reptiles are in situations just like this one.
In other words, this rescue could be the first of many. Conway said she was almost certainly going to continue the efforts herself, when the need arises.
“There’s a community for it out here,” Conway said. “There’s people who came out and helped, eventually — it just took a little bit of time. There is a snake community, a reptile community; us little weirdos … I think we can figure it out.”
