SAN JOSE (KRON) — San Jose police are on the look out for thieves who stole from a reptile breeder on Saturday.
The breeder says he just finished a presentation at the Martin Luther King Jr. Library and was packing up in the parking lot when thieves stole one of his duffel bags.
He says they were probably unaware of what was inside the heavy bag until they opened it up and found a bag full of snakes.
The breeder says four snakes and a lizard were inside that bag.
Luckily, he was able to get two of those snakes back so far.
He says they were found in a dumpster, probably after the thieves realized what was inside that stolen bag.
For Brian Gunday, reptiles are his life.
He breeds and sells snakes through his business, for goodness snakes.
He also hosts hundreds of educational programs and events each year.
On Saturday, thieves stole one of his duffel bags as he was packing up after finishing a presentation at the Martin Luther King Jr. Library in Downtown San Jose.
“I went and walked to my car, got in it, backed out. As I backed out I noticed there was some people at the other end of the parking lot where my gear was and I didn’t think anything of it,” he said.
Gunday said as he got out of his car, he noticed his duffel bag was gone.
Three ball pythons, a baby albino caramel Burmese python and a blue-tailed skink were inside the duffel bag.
Gundy believes whoever stole his bag had quite the surprise once they opened it.
“They picked it up. It was probably heavy, probably 30 pounds in someone’s mind probably camera equipment or computer gear,” he said.
Since the snakes went missing on Saturday, two of them turned up in a dumpster.
Gunday’s proudly wearing one of the recovered snakes.
“This is shorty. Shorty is a caramel albino Burmese python,” Gunday said. “He’s about three-months-old or so and this snake will grow to 13 or 15 feet long.”
The stolen snakes are worth thousands of dollars but gundy says it’s not about the money.
He says he’s most concerned about the safety of the animals and hopes to have the rest returned.
Gundy filed a police report and hopes the library’s garage surveillance video will help catch the thieves.
He asks that anyone with information contact him or police.