| 1 | Kingsnake jumps the Atlantic |
The natural habitat of the desert kingsnake is the arid, cactus-filled wastelands of Arizona. In July 2021, one somehow found itself tucked behind a cosy fireplace in rural Cheshire. A landlord was developing the property, which had just been vacated. He removed the fireplace, hoping to install a better one, and was greeted by the 120cm beige and black snake looking back at him. The kingsnake was coiled up comfortably, in no rush to leave. How it got there was a mystery, although snakes are experts at navigating through the tiniest cracks. The landlord was probably used to tenants leaving behind a mess, but not desert serpents.
The landlord called the RSPCA, who sent along animal rescue inspector Anthony Joynes. According to Joynes: “the fact that it is in such good condition makes me suspect that it is a pet that has escaped”.
This was a bad (or maybe good) week for escaped snakes. Joynes himself had already dealt with a ball python slithering across a road, which a member of the public had helpfully contained using a plastic box. Elsewhere, a very cold ratsnake was found on top of a kitchen fridge in St Helens.
| 2 | Wrapped around a pigeon |
In August 2018, London shoppers were greeted by the unusual sight of a beige-black boa constrictor coiled around a pigeon. It was lying on the pavement as people walked past, in front of a store, in the east London district of Leytonstone. One passer-by screamed, while others gathered to watch it swallow its meal. The snake was completely oblivious: “It was just trying to eat the pigeon, it wasn’t taking any notice of all the people” said Rachel Garland, 29. A video was later uploaded to the internet.
Some said that the pigeon was already dead and had been helpfully dropped in front of the snake. Either way, its coils were wrapped tightly around the bird’s body, and as onlookers gathered, it began to swallow its prize headfirst. At first, people took to Twitter warning of a python patrolling London, but it was clearly a boa constrictor. Being so absorbed in its meal, the boa was at great risk of being mauled by a dog or run over by a white van. The RSPCA descended on the street and transported the snake to a nearby wildlife centre. Where the loose boa constrictor came from was never explained.
| 3 | Satan breaks free at last |
The largest snake in Africa is the African rock python, which commonly reaches 6 metres and has even snatched small boys from villages (with some just escaping). In 2017, one of these pythons lived in the Cornwall apartment of Samuel Maule, 20, who also owned Burmese pythons, boa constrictors, and corn snakes.
Maule was giving his python some loving attention, washing her in the bath post skin shed. He walked away for 2 minutes, and that was his first mistake, for Satan the snake seized this opportunity to slither through a gap in the piping behind the toilet. The snake was now in the apartment block’s walls, and Maule banged on his neighbours’ doors to raise the alarm. Satan could have been round any corner, in the stairwell, or even in someone’s bed. The RSPCA apologised, but were unable to attend until Sunday morning. One neighbour was so scared that she grabbed a quilt and went to sleep in her car.
It took 48 hours to recapture Satan the python, but South West Reptiles Plus eventually located him in the ceiling, using a special camera for narrow places. She was placed in a cardboard box, after sections of plasterboard were removed. The name Satan was actually given after the escape, due to the mass panic it triggered.
| 4 | Washing machine madness |
It seems that corn snakes have a strange attraction towards washing machines. In 2010, 51 year old Wendy Foley was emptying her daily washing, pulling clean socks and underwear from the machine. Suddenly, she was greeted by the face of a corn snake.
At first she thought it was part of a pair of jeans, then a children’s toy. The snake had survived a full washing cycle, and was flecking its tongue at her (snakes usually do this when they detect food). She shrieked, and banged the washing machine shut with her crutches. Foley ran into the streets calling for help, and a passerby declared it to be a boa constrictor. When she rang the RSPCA, they treated it as a nuisance call and refused to help until the next day.
Lacking the courage to remove the snake, Foley and her 18 and 21 year old children slept the night terrified that it could escape the washing machine. “They scare me and I have absolutely no idea where this one came from” said Foley. In a 2016 incident, a pet corn snake was found curled up below a washing machine, enjoying the warmth, having been missing from a neighbour’s house for 3 months.
| 5 | Boa constrictor defeats RSPCA |
In 2011, Rox Wasler was gardening when she entered the garden shed for some equipment. Curled up in the corner, she saw a khaki-coloured boa constrictor, probably 10 feet long. At first, Waxler thought the snake was a belt, but when the truth dawned she ran to fetch her husband, who didn’t believe her. Waxler nearly had a heart attack, as she had no clue of its danger level, and had only seen snakes in zoos before.
RSPCA operatives soon turned up. They knew how to handle escaped household pets. But they got more than they bargained for. ““The RSPCA officer attempted to catch the snake but it was too powerful” said Howard Waxler. “They’re such clever creatures” he added.
The snake escaped through an open window, and disappeared into the town’s underbelly. The couple attempted to warn locals of the danger. No conclusion to this tale was ever reported in the media, but it was believed that with colder weather arriving, the snake had returned home.
| 6 | 70 venomous snakes in London |
It sounded like the stuff of nightmares. The location was Seven Sisters Road, London, where a man’s reptile collection had been breached, and 70 venomous snakes had slithered to freedom. The snakes were exploring London at this very moment, the owner claimed, as he dialled 999. There was grave risk to innocent women and children.
Police took the man seriously, and closed the entire street for one hour just before 8pm. The officers embarked on a wild goose chase, trying desperately to track the deadly serpents down, before they wiped out the entire neighbourhood home by home. What tools they used weren’t reported – steel tongs, infrared goggles, magnifying glasses, etc. Twitter users expressed their fear, vowing to stay away from London and wondering whether snakes on a train could become a possibility.
Either way, it turned out to have been an elaborate hoax. There was no 70 snakes, and there was no escape. There was, however, a joker chuckling to himself that the police had believed his made up story. The police admitted to have been duped: “At this stage, the incident is being treated as a hoax call”.
| 7 | Burmese python relaxes on roof |
This story started when Jenny Warwick looked out her window and noticed that the street looked slightly different to normal. Above a bedroom window on the opposite house, resting on the gutter, was a yellow, 6 metre Burmese python. Neighbours were walking past below, staring up at the python and not believing their eyes. It wasn’t moving, and looked quite comfortable, but was easily strong enough to open a bedroom window and slither through.
There was no RSPCA on hand, so neighbours climbed onto the roof and poked the python. Unfortunately, this just made it fall down and land on the car. Snakes are light, and the python was unhurt, and then Linda Elmer arrived on the scene. She had already met the python, and so she wrapped the whole snake around her significantly thinner neck. She walked down the street, completely wrapped in the python (which luckily didn’t squeeze), and returned it to its rightful owner.
The media couldn’t agree; some called the python docile, while others called it “very dangerous” and insisted it was trying to break into the house. If this took place near Halloween, it could have been there for days.
| 8 | Corn snake goes dark |
In this heartwarming story, a pet corn snake was lost for 6 months before being reunited with its owners. Like Satan, this snake escaped while being bathed. Owner Jasmine let her eye off him for one minute, and he seized the chance to slither through a gap behind the sink.
180 days passed, and Jasmine had moved house to Stockport. She was sitting in a local pub, drinking a pint, when she read a facebook post from the new owners, who were greeted by the lost snake the second they opened the front door. The stunned Jasmine cried “Mikey’s back!” and ran out of the pub, leaving her pint half finished.
When she turned up, Mikey was angry and even snapped at her. He was clearly displeased. But he was in better condition than you might expect, possibly snacking on mice below the floorboards. Mikey calmed down when Jasmine’s girlfriend arrived, who had previously kept him for 15 years. They put the escaped snake in a pillowcase, and transported him back to Stockport, his new home.
| 9 | Ball python wants a hug |
In July 2018, a woman endured the horror of horrors: she woke up one morning with a 3 foot snake sharing the bed with her. The snake was a ball python, perhaps the longest lived snake on Earth, and a docile pet. The snake had the typical dark and light brown colouring, and wasn’t lunging to bite, but the woman threw her sheets off and climbed out as quickly as possible.
She closed the bedroom door to prevent its escape, and phoned the RSCPA. When animal controller Jill Sanders arrived, the snake was gone. Had it climbed out the window or entered the plumbing? Nobody knew. The next day, Sanders was summoned back, and she scooped up the ball python in the apartment block’s corridor.
In October 2022, another woman was shocked when she woke up to a chillier than expected room. She moved to close the window she’d left open, but instead saw a yellow-red, 90cm corn snake trying to force its way in. The RSCPA finally arrived, and couldn’t find the snake anywhere, checking under the bed, in cupboards and the corridor. But eventually, they found it coiled around the window’s rim, having barely moved.
| 10 | 2.7 metre escapee, Cambridge |
One of the largest snakes to escape in Britain recently was Turin the reticulated python, who measured 2.7 metres. The reticulated python is the world’s longest snake, and is native to Thailand. The longest reach 9 metres, and Turin made his escape on June 30th 2019, slithering through an open window while the owner’s friend was “snake-sitting”.
It all began with a sighting on Lovell Road, of a three metre python, phoned into police. Eventually they located the owner, who confirmed that Turin was his. An atmosphere of dread descended on Cambridge, with the knowledge that the python was out there somewhere. One fearful resident said that her young children could “probably fit in a python’s mouth pretty easily, I’d imagine”. The police issued a warning that dogs could probably fight back, but rabbits were in grave danger.
Eventually, on July 4th, the owner heard a cry of “snake, snake, snake” from the garden. He discovered Turin in a tree, and it took the aid of several neighbours to bring him down. The terror had lasted 4 days.