Police: Man covered ball python with acidic solution; left it to die in tank

VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. — An Edgewater man has been charged with animal cruelty after deputies say he killed a pet ball python by covering it in an acidic solution and leaving it to die in its tank.

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The snake’s owner contacted deputies in late November saying she’d recently moved out of a home in DeBary she shared with 61-year-old Patrick Grimaldi.

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The woman said she was able to take two kittens from the home with her, but not her pet python.

The woman told deputies she received text messages and photographs about a week later explaining that the snake had died.

According to the sheriff’s office, a neighbor reported seeing the dead snake in its tank with an empty bottle of Calci-Solve super-strength concentrated de-scaler next to it.

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The neighbor also told responding deputies that she’d heard a rattling noise earlier in the day, which she thought was the sound of the snake trying to escape its tank.

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Deputies say the inside of the snake’s tank was smeared with residue suggesting it had been in distress and struggling to escape the tank, but was trapped because the lid was secured with a strap.

Grimaldi was arrested Thursday and charged with one count of felony cruelty to animals.

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He’s being held in the Volusia County jail on $2,500 bond.

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