Snake survives ping-pong ball removal surgery

Talk about taking a load off.

A yellow rat snake was taken to a Florida veterinarian by an unidentified good Samaritan after it was found with a ping-pong ball lodged in its stomach.

Dr. Angela Bockelman, a vet at Young’s Animal Hospital in Titusville, initially thought the clogged creature had swallowed a golf ball, according to the Brevard Times.

But after operating on the critter, doctors discovered it had actually ingested a beer-ponger’s tool of choice.

“We can assume that she just thought it looked like an egg,” said Bockelman.

Bockelman said the operation was “not elaborate or extravagant,” but the serpent still needed time to heal before returning to its natural habitat.

The scaly patient recovered at Florida Wildlife Hospital in Palm Shores for two months before being set free, the Brevard Times reported.

“[People] impacted that animal and I think its only reasonable for us to try to fix it,” Bockelman said.

Prior to the surgery, the veterinarian determined that the reptile had been slithering around with its unwanted companion for at least a month.