Thirty-three snakes, including this ball python, and two leopard geckos were recovered after a July 6 accident on Interstate 77 near Marietta. Two ball pythons were unaccounted for, authorities said. (Photo Provided)

MARIETTA — Two snakes were unaccounted for after a July 6 crash on Interstate 77 near Marietta, but a local reptile authority said they aren’t dangerous and are unlikely to survive long.

“The indigenous snakes are much more dangerous,” said Adrienne Love, founder and owner of For Goodness Snakes 8, a reptile rescue and sanctuary in Washington County.

Love and her team recovered 32 ball pythons, one boa imperator and two leopard geckos from the overturned U-Haul after being called to the scene by the Humane Society of the Ohio Valley. The animals had various health concerns, including respiratory infections that can be fatal to snakes, but are all expected to pull through, she said.

The driver of the U-Haul, 38-year-old Davaughn Strader of Pittsburgh, indicated there were two other snakes in the truck, said Lt. Chris Chesar, with the Ohio State Highway Patrol.

“We were told there were birds on board but we never could find them,” he said.

Love said the missing snakes are ball pythons, which she called “one of the most defenseless snakes you can own.

“They’re not venomous. They’re not big enough to eat you. Their bites are very mild,” she said.

A ball python, which can grow to be 3 or 4 feet in length at most, needs a heat gradient of between 80 and 100 degrees to survive, Love said.

“They’ll die in Ohio,” she said. “The grasslands of Asia is their natural habitat.”

Potential charges against Strader are being reviewed by the Washington County Prosecutor’s Office, Chesar said.

According to a patrol report, a woman and two young children were in the vehicle with him and all four were taken to Marietta Memorial Hospital after the crash. Children’s Services was contacted because Strader was allegedly driving on a suspended license and may have been impaired, the report said. Marijuana use was suspected, it said.

Staff reporter Nancy Taylor contributed to this story.

Evan Bevins can be reached at ebevins@newsandsentinel.com.