A family were in "floods of tears" after their neighbour came across an unexpected surprise.
Katy Wafer said she has been "tearing the home apart" looking for corn snake Ginger after she had escaped from her vivarium through a broken panel. They first noticed she was missing last month when a ventilation panel appeared to have fallen on the back of her vivarium.
Immediately appealing for help on social media, Katy urged people in the Penny Lane area to keep their eyes out for the bright orange snake as she said she was "harmless" and "beautiful". But after three weeks of panic, Ginger has been found.
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Katy told the ECHO: "I was making tea on Tuesday night and my youngest boy came running in saying someone has found Ginger. She was in the alleyway behind our house and our neighbour, who really strongly dislikes snakes, found her.
"He said if anyone was to find her it would be him but he opened his gate to go in the alley and there she was. It was wonderful, I was in floods of tears, we were just so pleased."
It is not known exactly when Ginger had escaped, but three weeks ago the family noticed she was not there and her food had not been eaten. Katy added: "We've been tearing the house apart looking in drawers and everywhere.
"There are so many places she could get into, they can get under the floor boards so we've had panels off looking everywhere. We were putting carrier bags around the edges of the house.
"We had a false alarm on Monday, we'd bought an endoscope camera and we were looking behind the bath and we thought we saw Ginger. We saw a face and eye but it didn't look good, we thought we'd find a dead snake.
"But it was a pair of plastic gloves. It's taken over our lives. I've been dreaming about it, I dreamt someone put her back in the house and painted her orange, it wasn't her. How bizarre.
"We are so lucky. She's the talk of the area, even in the schools children are asking have you heard about the wild snake missing. I put a post up saying she's been found and had so many replied saying we aren't as relieved as them. It's such good news, we are all happy."
Katy previously confirmed that she bought her eldest son Jamie an Xbox but one day he decided to sell it and with his earnings bought Ginger. He has had her for seven years and she has become a part of their family.
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