A baby python has been returned to its owner after it was found blocking a toilet in Southend on Sea.
Laura Cowell told the BBC her toilet had been blocked for several days and was draining slowly. The reason became clear when her son went to use the bathroom last week and found a 3ft-long royal python staring back up at him.
Article continues belowThe Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Cowell called in local reptile specialist Rob Yeldham, owner of Leigh-on-Sea pet shop Scales and Fangs, who removed the snake.
Following local media coverage, the python’s owner Tim Yardley contacted Yeldham to say his pet snake “Reggie” had been missing for nearly two months.
Reggie “apparently made his bid for freedom the night his owners moved into their new home”, says HuffPost.
“During the move one of the air vents on the enclosure got dislodged and... Reggie was able to pull the air vent off his enclosure and escape his tank,” Yeldham said.
“We believe from there he made his way into the toilet system. He was out for about two months... before he finally made his way up into Laura [Cowell]’s toilet where her son unfortunately came face to face with him.”
As royal pythons are harmless, “there’s no-one really to report a missing one to” and putting it on social media can “create panic”, Yeldham said.
As they are “vulnerable to foxes and cats”, Yardley had given up hope of finding him.