A MUM of two young girls has told of her horror after mistaking a boa constrictor for a banana.

Stacey Way, 28, from Parkstone said she first encountered the snake while cleaning the bathroom floor one day.

“I was wiping the bathroom floor when I noticed what I thought was a mouldy banana my toddler had shoved down the side of the water pipe”, Stacey said. “I know it sounds ridiculous, but I thought ‘I’ll get that in a minute with my gloves on’ and then just forget all about it.

“Three days later I was bathing my two little ones and wiped around the floor again when I saw that this thing was sticking out more than before, but as I got closer it went back in.

“I was so shocked. I couldn’t believe it. I looked closer and realised that the banana – or now snake – had a mouth.”

Stacey took her two daughters aged two and four out of the bath and rang her friend, who came round with a box.

She added: “We went round to the reptile centre near us – Safe Haven – but then had to call the RSPCA who told us we would have to get a builder to remove the floorboards to get it.

“It’s a rented property so we couldn’t do that. In the end the officer said to put a box with some water in it – as snakes like water for some reason – and leave it there. When I looked in the bathroom a few hours later he was sticking right out the hole so I called the shop and they came and got him.

“It was about three-to-four feet long – I couldn’t believe it. Now I think I’m seeing snakes everywhere even though we’ve filled up all the holes. I don’t mind snakes from a distance, but not in my bathroom.”

Earlier this week the Daily Echo reported a similar incident where a Bournemouth woman found a corn snake.

Marc Harris, co-owner of Safe Haven, urged pet owners who could not look after their animals anymore not to abandon them.

Boas

  • Originate from Central and South America
  • Excellent swimmers, but prefer dry land 
  • Can grow up to 13 ft l Eat almost anything they can catch with jaws stretching to swallow large prey whole 
  • The largest constrictor ever found was 18ft

Corn snake

ON TUESDAY, we featured a story about a Bournemouth woman who spent two terrifying nights in her flat with an escaped corn snake, left, after finding it in a cupboard.

Vaida Maia, 27, was afraid to touch or lift anything until it was captured by the RSPCA.