Dad speaks of shock after finding SEVEN-FOOT SNAKE in garden - close to where his children were playing
A dad has been speaking of his shock after finding a SEVEN FOOT SNAKE in his garden - close to where his children were playing.
Bruce Baker had been enjoying the Easter weekend at his home in Innerleithen when the surprise visitor arrived on his doorstep at around 5.30pm on Sunday.
He alerted his neighbours, who helped store it in a toy box until the Scottish SPCA arrived to rescue it.
Recalling the drama, Bruce said: "The kids were shouting there's a snake outside the front door, I looked out and there was a very live snake!
"I was a bit shaken at first because my youngest child's one, she's not long walking and she was sort of dottering about the front doorstep, and the snake was just off the side of the grass, so she would have been literally a couple of metres from it.
"It was underneath a bike my son had left, its head was underneath there and the rest of its body was round the side of the house.
"So I was thinking what could have happened, because I believe it's a boa constrictor, one of the snakes that squeeze you, and my child's quite wee."
Although the snake is not venomous, boa constrictors attack their prey with their fangs and squeeze them to death.
Bruce said: "The SSPCA said there were no calls to say anybody was missing one - I don't know how! But he reckoned the snake could have been out for a week or so, due to the scratches on its belly, where it's been rummaging through the undergrowth, and the fact it was really underweight - so hopefully there's not a family of them!"