Undergraduate Snake Enthusiast Rescues Ratsnake

We just received this report from undergraduate herper Kyle Atkins-Weltman about a recent snake encounter in Lawrence: "As I came back to my apartment from campus, someone from the maintenance crew saw me and asked me if I was the "snake guy," and when I said yes they told me they had found a snake while cleaning an empty apartment and asked if I could identify it. It turned out to be an absolutely BEAUTIFUL Pantherophis emoryi - cute little bugger, too! My guess is that it got in there to escape cold nights or perhaps there were some tasty vittles lying around. I'm going to release it back to the wild in a minute."