Staff at a Hawaii store discovered a two-foot snake inside a shipping container of Christmas trees. The snake was captured and is being safeguarded in Hilo.

A slithering 2-foot-long creature was found lurking in a shipment of Christmas trees to Hawaii, officials say. Workers of a Hilo store had unloaded about half of a shipment of Christmas trees the morning of Saturday, Nov. 16, when they spotted a snake, the Hawai’i Department of Agriculture said in a Nov. 20 news release.

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - Employees at a shop in Hilo made an unwanted discovery while unloading a shipment of Christmas trees over the weekend. Workers of the undisclosed location were about half way through unloading the container Saturday morning when they found a two-foot-long gopher snake.

Shop workers unloading a supply of Christmas trees in Hawaii found an unexpected visitor hiding within the shipment.

It's illegal to possess and transport snakes in Hawaii because if the non-native reptiles were to gain a foothold it could be devastating for native wildlife. So when a gopher snake was discovered Saturday in a shipment of Christmas trees being unloaded at a store in Hilo,

The reptile, later confirmed to be a non-venomous gopher snake, is now in the custody of the Hawaii Department of Agriculture