Can I get a ride, mate?
A snake from down under has gone on the trip of a lifetime, after it manged to hitch a ride from Queensland in Australia to Sterling in Scotland - All while stowed away in a woman's shoe.
The reptile, a non-venomous python, was found inside a slip-on shoe belonging to Moira Boxall, 72, who was returning home from visiting family in Australia- more than 10,000 miles away.
Moira, who hails from Bridge of Allan, Stirling, had been in Mackay, Queensland staying with her daughter Sarah and her husband Paul Airlie.
Speaking to Scotsman.com, Moira explained how the bizarre incident happened:
“Three weeks ago I was woken up in the middle of the night with a crash in my bedroom.
“I saw a snake on the floor slithering along by a skirting board, it had knocked a plant pot over.” Moira left the room to alert her daughter and son-in-law, but when she returned to her room there sneaky snake was gone.
“It must have moved after I left the room.
“My son-in-law thought I had been dreaming. “I had a snake catcher in the next morning and ransacked my room, but found nothing. “He thought it might have escaped because they can get out of small places.”
“I was in an awful state of shock.”
There was then no sign of the sneaky snake for weeks... until Moira picked up her shoes back in Scotland.
“Last Thursday morning I took a shoe out and I thought it was a small piece of bubble wrap, but the snake had actually shed its skin.
“Then I saw the snake wriggling out with its fangs showing.
“I took it outside in a box and phoned my daughter who called the SPCA.
“A lady then came round and used a pillowcase to removed it safely.”
She added: “I was in an awful state of shock.”
We don't blame you Moira!
The snake is now in quarantine at our animal rescue and rehoming centre in Edinburgh.
