The RSPCA has issued a snake warning as warm weather is seeing the animals become more active and escape a lot more.
The charity announced that calls to its snake hotline are at an all-time high, with the problem especially extreme in summer.
Evie Button, senior scientific officer at the RSPCA, told a newspaper outlet that the warmer they are, the more active they are so that’s why they escape a lot more in summer.
According to Evie Button, last year the organisation received more than 100 calls a month relating to escaped pet snakes.
According to UK Pet Food, the problem has been exacerbated by the soaring number of snakes being kept as pets in the United Kingdom, with the figure up from 500,000 last year to 700,000 this year.
Inexperienced keepers have been advised to pay special attention to their pet snakes due to the rise in escapees. Pythons, boa constrictors and corn snakes are three of the most popular species to keep.
There are three snakes native to Britain, the adder, which is venomous, the grass snake, which is harmless and typically found in gardens, and the smooth snake.
But according to Sunday Times, there are also around 30 aesculapian, a kind of rat snake native to Europe which can grow more than six feet long, presently living in the undergrowth along Regent’s Canal in London. They live off rats.
In May last year Mark Thomas, 46, was walking along Regent’s Canal when one of the snakes stepped out in front of him. This is very funny because snakes don’t step out, they slither!
He said it was right in front of him, slithering along the canal path.
No one is sure how the aesculapian got to the canal but there’s seemingly one theory that eight were released from a lab which closed down in 1986.
According to Pet Keen, about 100 adder bites are reported in the United Kingdom each year.
Last year shocking pictures captured the horrifying moment an escaped 18 feet long python attempted to enter a house through an open window in Southampton.
The extremely dangerous snake, which weighs 6 stone (38kg) was spotted by neighbours as it made its way across a roof before forcing its way through the upstairs window.
Terrified residents inside managed to use a broom handle to fight off the albino Burmese Python and poke it back out before it fell 20 feet onto the bonnet of a car below.
These kinds of snakes need to be banned as pets as soon as possible. These creatures are not pets and they shouldn’t be locked up in a vivarium, and if they have to escape, they’re not a pet, they’re captive, and this is the same for all caged animals. If I see a bird in a cage from someone’s lounge window, I want to cry for their freedom – one day we will respect animals more.
We are all born to be free, for some that’s not the case! And large snakes should be prohibited as pets, they need a lot more space than their owners can offer.
The United Kingdom is full of snakes, although most of them appear to migrate to Westminster, which should make it much easier to destroy them!
Joking aside, it’s selfish to keep snakes, particularly large breeds. They should be roaming free where they come from and it’s so heartbreaking to see caged animals. There are enough domestic pets in this country without putting other creatures in prison for life.
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 