On Tuesday, a 12-foot long Burmese python underwent surgery after it swallowed an entire queen-size electric blanket along with the electrical cord and control box Sunday night. Karl Beznoska, the python's owner said the 6 feet long and wide electric blanket was kept in its cage to help keep it warm.

According to Karl, the python, named Houdini, must have swallowed the blanket after it got tangled up in the snake's rabbit dinner. On Monday morning, Beznoska noticed the blanket was missing and that Houdini didn't seem to be feeling well.

X-rays confirmed Beznoska's suspicions.

"The prognosis is great," veterinarian Karsten Fostvedt said after Tuesday's two-hour operation on the python, named Houdini.

Fostvedt said specialists at the University of California-Davis School of Veterinary Medicine told him it probably would have taken Houdini six hours to swallow the blanket and the snake probably would have died without the operation.

Neither Fostvedt nor fellow veterinarian Barry Rathfon had operated on a snake before. "We just basically called a couple of specialists and they told us where to go in," Fostvedt said.

He said it would take several days for Houdini's anesthesia to wear off because snakes have such slow metabolism.

Houdini has been with Beznoska for 16 years, and is a popular show-and-tell guest in local schools.