Imagine waking up in the middle of the night to take a leak and finding this in your toilet: the head of a snake. A living snake. Attached to six feet more of living snake…

That’s what the residents of one Australian apartment discovered today: a six-foot-long black-headed python in their toilet. While snakes are not uncommon in the city of Darwin, Australia, they’re not exactly common in apartment plumbing — particularly up on the 10th floor of a high-rise building, which is where this one was found.

A professional reptile catcher was called in to wrangle and capture the serpent. “When I saw it I was pretty shocked,” he said. “I had to give him a wash because he was wet and a bit smelly.” Fortunately, no one was harmed, not even the snake. We can only imagine what could have happened…