Imagine looking out your bedroom window and seeing a 7- to 9-foot long snake lounging in a tree in your backyard.

That’s exactly what happened to a woman in the Meadowbrook/Greenbriar area recently, according to Lt. Jim McMillen of the Sikeston Public Safety Department.

Despite rumors that a 20-foot constrictor was terrorizing the neighborhood Jennifer Weaver, who is a naturalist at the Cape Girardeau Conservation Nature Center, says it’s just a Black Rat Snake.

Weaver says it is a “non-venomous species that is native to Missouri.”