Sssssssso that’s why the loo was blocked ... a python was inside it!
A BOY of five was left shaking with fear after he lifted up the toilet lid ... and found a 3ft-long python.
He was frantic after discovering the hissing snake, his mother Laura Cowell said.
She added: ‘I could tell something was wrong but that was not what I expected. I had to use a broom handle to lift the lid, then out popped its head and its tongue came out as well.’
She rang a local reptile shop to ask for help removing the python from their toilet in Southend, Essex, last Wednesday.
Ethan Pinion, from the shop Scales and Fangs, said the snake smelled of bleach and had most likely slithered up through the Ubend. Shop owner Rob Yeldham also came to help Mrs Cowell, who managed to take photos of the rescue effort.
Mr Yeldham, who runs the pet store in Leigh- on- Sea, said her neighbours had recently moved out and left old reptile tanks, known as vivariums, outside with the rubbish. He said: ‘I think the snake probably escaped and went down their toilet and ended up in this one.
‘I’ve done many snake rescues in my ten years but I’ve never had one in a toilet before. It’s definitely a first for us.’
Mrs Cowell said the toilet had not been working well for several days.
The baby royal python is a non-venomous constrictor. Adults can grow to 5ft.
The snake was not underweight so it is thought it had not spent much time in the sewage system. It is now being looked after by the reptile shop and although it had scale rot, it was generally in good health.
Mrs Cowell, however, said she was ‘petrified’ and put weights on the toilet lid for several days after the ordeal.