A horrified mother stumbled upon a 7ft long hissing snake slithering across her child's bedroom.
Natasha Robinson thought her fiance Gary Minshall was joking when she spotted a Taiwanese demoiselle snake in their children's room.
However, the 34-year-old woman was left in complete shock when she saw the snake's tongue suddenly pop out and end up in her mouth.
Natasha, from Chester, Cheshire, said: 'At first I thought, 'It must just be a grass snake' or something less dangerous, but it looked nothing like the pictures – and it was so big.'
“We knew from his size and appearance that he was definitely not a local.
“My partner and I were just in disbelief, especially knowing it was there next to our daughter.
“I'm so grateful that she noticed it and didn't accidentally step on it.”
The wedding accessories business owner quickly took three-year-old Primrose and her brothers Jacob, seven, and Theo, six, into the garden to check on her pet cats, who she feared might be eaten.
Natasha and her 40-year-old partner, a health, safety and quality specialist, held the snake for two hours until a nearby couple who own exotic pets took it away.
The Taiwan boa constrictor is a non-venomous species that can grow up to 10 feet in length.
In the UK they can be kept without a licence and are generally docile, but may attack if they feel threatened.
“One of my sons has autism, he would have caught it. It's scary to imagine what could have happened then,” Natasha shared.
Natasha believes that the snake could have entered their house before last month's incident through an open window.
Although the snake is now safe, for several days after the incident it nervously checked the bed to make sure no one else had climbed in there.
Natasha noted: “The children weren’t scared, they thought it was really cool to have a snake in their bedroom.”
“It was completely unusual. You would think that if it had been a beloved pet, it would have been taken away.
“Since then we’ve been like celebrities here, I get asked about it all the time.”
Sourse: metro.co.uk
