Snake is loose and hiding out in museum

COHASSET -- The sign on the front door of Our World Children's Discovery Museum says it all: "Fithi is still having her grand adventure. It is safe to come in and play, or you could join our search party."

Fithi (the Greek word for snake) is a 2 1/2 -foot bald python who escaped from her cage near the entrance of the museum earlier this month.

"It took me an hour to notice she was gone," said Julie Laugelle, who runs the museum. "We had a vet come in, and he told us she's probably in a nice, cozy warm place and she might stay there for a while because she's out of her element and could be scared."

The vet also said the snake could go six months without eating: Her last meal was a defrosted rat gulped down two weeks before her disappearance.

Laugelle said Fithi isn't aggressive and poses no danger to the children coming to the museum, which is behind the public library in the old Osgood Elementary School building.

"The kids are really having fun with this," she said.

JOHANNA SELTZ