A 15-foot python named “Big Mama” was found safe Wednesday after slipping out of her enclosure last week at a Los Angeles home.

The reticulated python was seen coiled up between two sheds in a neighbor’s backyard, close to the Chatsworth home from which she escaped on July 4.

“Right after I came back from work, about five minutes after I showed up, the door was just … I felt like somebody was trying to break in,” snake owner Alex Villalta told KABC-TV. “It was my neighbor just to let me know that she had found her.”

Big Mama escaped her outdoor sanctuary after the Villalta family had left the enclosure’s door unlocked.

The family was worried that if the search stretched on, the python would be harmed.

“Because she’s a large reptile and some people are not very fond of them, I was a little scared that she would accidentally get hurt,” Mr. Villalta told KABC-TV. “I definitely didn’t want the story to end with her being hungry and accidentally, or intentionally, hurt someone’s pet.”

Experts told KCBS-TV that the snake was likely sunbathing before it retreated between the two sheds.

• Matt Delaney can be reached at mdelaney@washingtontimes.com.