The pet snake, named Bertie, which had escaped from its owner’s home yesterday morning, has been seen in the main sewer under London Road in Oveston.
Alec Evans, 48, of Attlee Drive, who works as a foreman for Newshire Water’s waste services department, spotted the boa while on a routine inspection of the main sewer under London Road this morning.
He said he got a huge shock when something brushed against him and he realised it was a large snake coiled round the rungs of a metal ladder with a rat halfway down its throat.
“I was still shaking when I got above ground to report what had happened and by the time I got back the snake wasn’t there.”
The eight-foot Colombian boa, owned by Brian Smith, 48, of Foxwell Road, had escaped some time before yesterday morning down the toilet of his house.
Oveston police has earlier advised all residents that they should not be alarmed by this incident because the snake was not a threat to people.
Inspector Sam Brown, of the Oveston branch of the RSPCA, said that his officers had joined the search of the sewer helping Newshire Water in hope of tracking the boa as soon as possible.
“Bertie is not a threat to people so I’m really more concerned about the snake’s survival. He’s a cold-blooded animal so I’m hoping that if he’s now fed he’ll have found somewhere to curl up.”
Further, Inspector Sam Brown said he knows the owner, who had helped the RSPCA when reptiles had been brought up to them in the past.
“I’ve spoken to him and I know this incident has come as a great shock to him. He’s very sorry for the fright Bertie gave Mr Evans.”