SPAULDING TODAY (UK) 30 October 06 Family's fear as snake makes its home in kitchen
Little Holly Pulling (3) has taken a snake to her heart, despite her father's terror when it turned up in their home at Whaplode.
Holly was delighted when her father, postman Vincent Pulling, told her a snake had turned up in the kitchen.
Vincent said: "It looked like a tube of fruit pastilles and was obviously an exotic snake.
"My first thought was to get my daughter out of the house as she likes insects and bugs and could have picked it up.
"But she was excited. She calls it 'my friend the snake'.
"I teased her by saying it was up in her bedroom but she was not bothered."
Vincent had to tear his kitchen apart in an effort to find the 16ins long serpent after Holly's mother, Stacey Brown, saw it crawling across the floor.
He said: "The missus shouted me in and I thought it would just be a mouse or a rat.
"I just couldn't believe it. I don't really like spiders, let alone snakes."
However, even after taking his kitchen units apart, Vincent still could not find the creature, which he believes is either a non-poisonous milk snake or a potentially lethal coral snake, with bright red, black and orange bands.
And despite ringing various organisations, including the RSPCA, all he could get on the night was advice.
He said: "Nobody really seemed to care that there could be poisonous snake in the house with a three-year-old.
"It is still in the house somewhere and that is quite a scary thought."
Holly spent the night at her grandma's house, while her father sat on the kitchen table armed with an empty pillowcase so the snake could not escape the open plan kitchen to the living room if it reappeared.
Despite help from his mother and sister and the loan of a dog to sniff the snake out, it remains at large, and Vincent's friend suggested the animal could have lived in the house for months before being awoken.
Now the family are back in the house, but with some precautionary measures and a sense of injustice.
Vincent said: "We put towels down underneath the bedroom doors. I don't know if it can climb stairs.
"We're still not sleeping easy, plus it is not paying rent to live here."
A spokesman for the RSPCA advised caution when confronting a snake and for people to contact the organisation.
He said: "Snakes turning up in houses are getting more common as exotic animals become easier to get hold of.
"People turn them out when they realise the care they need.
"Most die, but they can live quite happily in a protected environment where they can eat."
Family's fear as snake makes its home in kitchen