Man finds three-foot snake curled up in his toilet

A man has said he was left stunned after discovering a snake emerging from his downstairs toilet.

David Claridge, of Bracknell, Berkshire, lifted the toilet’s lid on Tuesday morning and saw something yellow and black protruding from the bowl.

Upon closer inspection, he realised it was a three-foot (0.9m) long grass snake.

The 79-year-old, who promptly evicted the reptile from his property with a pair of barbecue tongs, said he believes it must have crawled up through the drain after seeking water during recent hot weather.

Claridge said he couldn’t believe his eyes: “I thought I must be seeing things,” he said. “But I looked again, and for sure it was there. And then it moved.

“I thought, well, it’s got to be a snake of some kind. What else could it be?”

He said he was not frightened of the snake after concluding it was not poisonous, but used tongs to avoid having to touch it with his bare hands.

Claridge gripped the snake a little below the head and carried it into his garden – where it initially tried to make a break back to the house.

“I gave it a push and a nudge in the right direction and then it found the grass and was gone,” he said.

He believes the snake made its way into his home via the drainage system.

Claridge said: “I know this toilet and others discharge to a drain, and about a metre and a half away from there is a rainwater drain.

“I didn’t realise the two were connected, and that’s the only way I can imagine it must have come in.”

News of the encounter prompted one nearby resident to get in touch, believing the snake could be his own escaped pet.

But it turned out to be a case of mistaken identity and the man’s pet – a spider python – was found safe and well the following day.

Claridge said he may have saved the snake’s life by freeing it from his toilet.

“I guess had it been in there for a long time, the poor thing would have died. I probably gave it a new lease of life,” he added.

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