MAASTRICHT - It is the nightmare of everyone who abhors snakes, but it happened to a woman Monday on the toilet in a hotel in Maastricht. In the toilet bowl was a 2.5-meter python.

Thirty exotic animals in hotel room.The snake appeared to have been released from a hotel room one floor below. More than thirty exotic animals were found there by hotel staff. Two chameleons ran through the room. In plastic transport benches were snakes, geckos, arrow-tailed frogs, Nile monitor lizards, fire salamanders, tarantulas and a baby crocodile. Those men and a woman from Rome were arrested. Most of the animals were found to be in their possession illegally. In an associated room, police found a knife and soft drugs.

The python was presumably pulled into the upstairs room through the drain. Oda Ploem of the Wildlife Assistance Center was called in, "The snake was lying very quietly coiled in the toilet bowl."

Hotel staff found the animals shortly thereafter. It went to look in the room in question because it was suspected that the guests were leaving the hotel without paying. The Wildlife Assistance Center took care of the animals overnight. Yesterday they were transferred to a specialized shelter. According to Oda Ploem, the Italians drove the animals around for at least three days. "Purchase papers show that they have been to dealers' fairs in Germany, among other places." The name of the hotel is being kept secret. "It was a fancy hotel, that's all I'm saying, " says Ploem. "People were terrified of image damage if news of the animals became public. We had to do our work in secret."