Boa Constrictor Story

When The Gill Corporation moved to its current location in El Monte, there was an industrial company on the 20 acres on the north edge of the property. The building only occupied about 10 of the acres and the other 10 were adjacent to our property and were left fallow.

During the mid-80’s it became a fad for people to grow their own vegetables. As a result, the company that owned the property marked out plots on the vacant property and allowed their employees to cultivate them.

One day I was in my office, a person came running in, and excitedly shouted, “There’s a big snake out in the resin area.”  I rushed out of my office and when I arrived at the scene one of our people was pounding on a 6 foot Boa Constrictor with a length of 4×4 wood.  The snake was annoyed, but Boas are not very aggressive (unless you are edible).  We called the Humane Society and they picked it up and took it away.

It must have been an escaped pet living in the cultivated plots and eating whatever was eating the vegetables. It was an exciting event and to this day, the only snake we’ve had on the property………..that I know of.

Within a couple of months of this event, the interest in growing anything there began to fade and was dormant within 6 months.