Employees at a southern New Hampshire grocery store uncovered an unexpected passenger in a banana shipment over the weekend: a venomous snake native to South America.

The snake in question was an ornate cat-eyed snake, which is mildly venomous and native to Ecuador. It was found on Saturday, the N.H. Fish and Game Law Enforcement Division posted on Facebook.

The employees and others removed the snake and it was given over, unharmed, to Rainforest Reptile Shows based in Beverly, Massachusetts.

The group gets hitchhikers like the ornate cat-eyed snake a few times each year.

“We have been dealing with these kinds of situations for over 25 years now. We probably get a call three to four times a year for something similar. There’s nothing we can really do to prevent this. [Animals] use produce or crops, things that we eat, to hide,” Rainforest Reptile Shows Vice President Mack Ralbovsky told ABC News.

The employee who found the snake was uninjured. While the ornate cat-eyed snake is venomous, its venom is not fatal, Mr. Ralbovsky told USA Today. Instead, its bites produce pain and swelling.

The group plans to create a specialized habitat for the snake, and either provide it a specialty diet or to get it used to eating frozen mice.

• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.