"I did a double take, and then I started screaming and ran," Martinez said.

She made a beeline back to the office, slamming the door behind her. Her 13-year-old sister had accompanied her and refused to believe a giant snake was in the next room.

Together, they peered into the warehouse through an office window and sure enough, the slumbering python was just waking.

A panicked phone call to grandfather Arnold Morarty followed, and the county's Animal Care and Regulation department soon arrived.

Morarty, who owns a business crafting pillars and window surroundings, said the snake made its way into the warehouse sometime over the weekend.

As for the reptile's owner, Morarty is looking into whether the snake may have lived nearby. It took two people to finagle the giant snake into a garbage can and tape the lid shut, said Pat Claerbout, director of animal care for the county of Sacramento.

The 120-pound python's girth is equal to that of a human thigh, she estimated.

The snake is being quarantined at the Sacramento Zoo. County officials are hoping the owner will step forward and claim the reptile. If not, they will attempt to find an adoptive home, which is no easy feat for a pet this size.