The Serpent Mystery

[glenatron]

We got home from Toronto, brought in our bags and Lou went off to the bathroom. She noticed two things in fairly short order: Firstly, the snake in the bathroom wasn't a grass snake and secondly that there was a snake in the bathroom.

She called me up to concur that she wasn't hallucinating. It seemed like quite a nice sort of snake, perhaps 18" long and light in colour with unevenly shaped red-brown blotches on it and a pointy python-shaped head.

I went to get something to move it to so that we could find it a safer home but when I got back the snake had vanished. We searched around the place but it wasn't anywhere obvious, the guess we made was that it was hiding under the floor. Very surreal.

At first we assumed that mini python was a visitor who had escaped from a neighbours' house while we were away, but looking for him under the bath I spotted a discarded snake skin that may indicate he's been living here, silent and unnoticed, for quite a while. From what I can tell he's probably a spotted python- they're quite a common pet and seem to match the appearance I remember.

Frankly, if he's the reason that we haven't seen many big spiders around the house this year and the mice in the attic have quietened down a bit he's a very welcome guest...

Comments

[stu-the-elder.livejournal.com]

I recall a large spider that used to live under our bath when my family lived on a farm some years ago. It was unlikely to be able to pierce our skin. While non-poisonous, I'd be wary of either the bite or the unexpected presence of that snake a bit more than I would be of the hairy bathroom spider.

Time for the RSPCA perhaps..

- Crump

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

But it's only a small python. It would be hard-pressed to take more than a finger...