THE MIRROR (London, UK) 21 September 07 Teen mum's bath snake shock (Rebecca Evans)
A young mum was giving her baby a bath when a 5ft python slid out from under it.
Leanne Smith, 18, screamed as it hissed at her and four-month-old Millie.
Terrified Leanne scooped Millie into her arms and leaped over the snake - which experts said was ready to pounce.
She said: "It was huge and it just sat there hissing and looking at me.
"I just screamed and screamed, which was probably the wrong thing to do as it started to hiss at me even more.
"I jumped over it and called the RSPCA. They said it had probably got in through a pipe and was ready to attack me.
"So I locked the bathroom door and waited for them to take it away."
An RSPCA officer caught the royal python - a non-venomous constrictor that crushes its prey - and a neighbour experienced in looking after large snakes is caring for it while the owner is sought.
Leanne, who lives with boyfriend Ben Payne, also 18, in a council flat in Dartford, Kent, added: "If Millie had been on her own it could have killed her. Pythons have been known to swallow children whole after suffocating them.
"I am desperate for the council to find me a new place to live as I don't feel safe. I am too scared to go to the toilet now."
She added: "The RSPCA have no idea where it came from as they asked all the neighbours and no one had lost one."
Ian Stephen, London Zoo senior reptile keeper, said: "It would have been more aggressive than usual because it would have been very stressed and afraid, cold, confused, hungry - and more scared of Leanne than she was of it."
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/topstories/2007/09/21/teen-mum-s-bath-snake-shock-89520-19823970/
