Snake trio content, confined in Fort Kent home

FORT KENT – There are three snakes, not two, residing in Chester Rines’ home, and the trio is OK, fed and confined, according to a report Monday.

The saga surfaced last week of two large snakes roaming the Rines home unattended. Local police were unsure about what needed to be done with and for the reptiles.

Since the story was published March 28 in the Bangor Daily News, the Fort Kent Police Department has received many telephone calls about the lengthy problems, with some folks offering to apprehend them. The calls came from across the state.

The home was believed to be the residence of Rines and Jason Buzzell. The apartment, however, is the home of Rines and Tammy Battista. The couple is from New Hampshire and currently in that state. It is unknown when they will return.

Michelle Marquis, Rines’ daughter, lives in the same building, which is a duplex house, on the connector road between North and South Perley Brook roads in Fort Kent.

Police had been notified of the locked house containing the snakes and were concerned for the safety of the exotic pets, which are not prevalent in northern Maine.

Marquis said Monday there are three snakes in the house – two ball pythons and a red-tail boa. The snakes are between 3 and 41/2 feet long. Pythons and boas are large, nonpoisonous snakes that crush their prey to death.

The three snakes are owned by Rines and Battista.

“I laughed when I read the story,” Marquis said Monday. “The snakes are OK. They can go quite awhile without eating.

“They were fed by my father the last time he was here, about 10 days ago,” she said. “They are pets, and they are confined in their tanks. They are not roaming the house.

“They are his pets, and he’s had them for some time,” Marquis said. “He brought them here from New Hampshire.”

She was not sure Monday when her father would return to Fort Kent and his pets.

Snakes, large ones, are not a common problem for northern Maine police officers. Fort Kent Police Chief Kenneth Michaud didn’t know what to do with the problem last week.

Michaud, on vacation, could not be reached Monday.