It's a different kind of snake for this plumber.

A sewer system worker in western North Carolina lifted an iron lid and came face-to-face with a 7-foot python.

A Canton sewer department employee found the snake late last month coiled on the top step of a ladder into a pump station.

He and a co-worker recovered from the initial shock and used shovels to coax the snake to uncoil, stuffed it in a burlap bag, and called Haywood County Animal Services.

Matteson said there was no way of knowing how long the snake had been in the sewer system or how it got there, but it looked healthy.

An official says it's illegal to own a constrictor snake such as a python in Haywood County.