A former Wall Street banker who traded the high-stress world of investment banking in New York City for a new life on a wildlife conservation reserve in rural Zimbabwe has revealed that her thatched-roof home came with an unexpected resident: a 12-foot python living in the ceiling.
Influencer Alex Blumenfeld, known online as Alex Blumy, has gone viral after documenting her career change and the discovery. She now works on the reserve doing fundraising and digital work, but soon after moving into her traditional thatched-roof house, she noticed that locals were behaving oddly.
Mysterious brown sludge
Alex said staff and neighbours kept asking her, “How is the house treating you?” in a suspicious, waiting-for-bad-news kind of way. She soon discovered they weren’t just being polite. Previous tenants had reportedly noticed a mysterious brown sludge dripping down a bathroom wall.
When maintenance workers went up to investigate what they assumed was a plumbing leak, they made a stomach-churning discovery: a 12-foot python was living in the ceiling eaves, Chip Chick reported. Moreover, the workers reportedly couldn’t get the snake out, so they simply left it there.
Viral reaction
Alex shared the revelation in a video house tour filmed in mid-July 2026 which she posted on TikTok. Right at the end, she zoomed in on the roofline to show the python was still very much at home, casually peering down at her like it owned the place.
Her clip sparked a huge reaction online, with one viral reaction on Threads from @appodlachia reading: “I’m obsessed with this woman on TikTok who quit her job as an investment banker in NYC, moved to Zimbabwe, and found a python living in her ceiling”.
Bush life realities
As a result, others joked the snake was less than impressed by its new human “roommate”, with one user writing: “To be clear the python is saying “Is that an American?! IN MY HOUSE?! I literally can’t breathe. I can’t BREATHE! Holy s—!” Someone else penned: “The python looks disgusted.”
A person wrote: “No SHES living in HIS basement.” A separate individual chimed in: “No ma’am, that’s his house.”
Alex has continued documenting her extreme career change on her @alexblumy TikTok, showing the realities of bush life - from finding scorpions in her bed to dodging spitting cobras on morning walks, and hearing hyenas try to break into her house at night. Despite the terrifying encounters, she insisted she’d make the move again “10 times over”.
