Customers find huge 'boa constrictor' in a shopping cart at a US store. See pic

The boa constrictor is being kept at the Sioux City Animal Adoption and Rescue Centre. (Representative Image)

In a shocking incident at a Target store in Iowa, shoppers discovered a 6-foot-long snake in a shopping cart. The red-tailed boa constrictor was rescued and is now safe.

The authorities, however, are still baffled about how the snake managed to end up in the store. The incident happened last Saturday morning at a Target store in Sioux City, Iowa. Animal control was called at about 11.30 am to deal rescue the reptile. It is unclear as to who saw the snake first, a customer or an employee.

It is being speculated that the snake found its way into the cart at a cart corral and was brought inside unknowingly by a customer.

Pictures of the snake coiled up in the shopping cart were shared on Facebook by a user named Lindsay Alvarez. "My daughter encountered this little guy at Target today!" she wrote.

The red-tailed boa constrictor was found at a Target store in Iowa. (Image: Lindsay Alvaraz/Facebook)

The boa constrictor is being kept at the Sioux City Animal Adoption and Rescue Centre. An employee from there said on Monday that security footage from the Target parking lot was reviewed. However, it is still unclear to whom the snake originally belonged and how it ended up inside the shopping cart.

Meanwhile, boa constrictors are large, thick-bodied snakes and feeds on a wide variety of birds and mammals. According to Britannica, farmers keeps the snake around their fields and storage sheds to reduce the rodent population.

The snake’s adult length is about 10 feet (3 metres), though boa constrictors of more than 18 feet (5.5 metres) have been also reported. The reptile thrives in tropical rainforests.