OWEN SOUND, Ont. -- A central Ontario motel manager found a strange visitor lodging in one of the rooms on the weekend.

Police were called to the motel in Owen Sound on Saturday after the manager discovered a 1 1/2-metre-long super salmon boa constrictor.

Officers were able to wrangle the slithery customer and take it to a local pet store.

Further investigation revealed the reptile's 25-year-old owner had been renting a room for the past month before travelling to Nova Scotia.

When contacted, the man told police he'd left instructions for a friend -- the snake's original owner -- to retrieve the boa constrictor and take it to a pet store.

The friend never showed up and the snake was left alone in the room for five or six days until it was discovered.