CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- A 15-month-old boy was rushed to the hospital after being bitten by a python in a popular Charlotte park.

Christine Abdelmonem and her son, Adam, were picnicking in Freedom Park Monday afternoon when they went to go play near some ducks. That's when Christine says she felt something tug on her son's leg.

She looked down and saw a 3-foot ball python grasping her son's right calf.

"In my mind, it was 3,000 feet long, had huge fangs and tried to eat my son," exclaimed the frantic mother.

At first, no one knew if the snake was poisonous. Adam was taken to the hospital, and park workers tried to kill the snake with a shovel.

Pythons are not poisonous, and they're also not native to North Carolina, or North America for that matter.

"They're native to Africa but make popular pets," said Michael Kirschman of the Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation Department. "Some people get exotic animals, but get bored of them after a short time, and think they're doing the right thing by letting them go in the wild or in a park."

Kirschman said the outcome isn't good.

According to animal experts, these former pets sometimes can't survive on their own, can't survive Charlotte winters, or sometimes, like in Adam's case, they can attack.

The Freedom Park Python is now at Pineville Pets, a pet shop that offered to take care of the injured snake.

The store's owner said this snake is practically harmless, that he was likely just hungry. After the snake heals, they plan on selling the snake to a new owner.