Escaped snake 'feared to have entered plumbing'

Residents on the Island of Lewis off the north-west coast of Scotland were warned to keep their toilet seat lids down after it was feared an escaped snake had got into the plumbing system.

It is understood that a three-foot boa constrictor managed to escape from its glass tank and went missing for two days before turning up on its owner's sofa, according to a Daily Record report.

The warning was issued because it was thought that if it had made it into the plumbing system it could have made it into another of the island's resident's bathrooms.

Scottish Society for the Protection of Animals inspector Calum Watt commented that it was likely the snake never left the house at all.

"They usually go for warmth, so I would have been surprised if it had gone outside," Mr Watt told the news provider.

In May, it was reported that a four-foot pet snake had escaped from its owner in Portsmouth, which was subsequently found by "an almost hysterical" young woman, coiled up on top of her household boiler.