A gran ended up accidentally picking up 2.5 foot snake in her garden, after mistaking it for 'rubbish'.
The gran-of-11 mistook the albino stake in her garden, telling her family that she thought it was a twig due to her bad eyesight.
Gill Peters, 79, recalls being in her garden in Truro, Cornwall, when she found the white reptile.
She threw it into the grass and called daughter Shereen Allen, 51 on January 6, who hurried over with her son.
The mum-of-five joked that her Gill called her because she found what 'must be a twig' because of her vision.
But she was left petrified after finding the reptile curled up in the grass.
Police officers were called, and helped to find somewhere to re-home the snake, which is now said to be thriving at a reptile rescue.
Speaking about the incident, Shereen said: "We thought 'there's no way there's a snake'.
"Normally she can't see for toffee.
"Mum said 'I picked it up and chucked it in the hedge'.
"It was so cute, we didn't know what snake it was at that point."
She then went on to explain how they managed to safely store the snake while the police attended, saying: "We picked it up with a gripper and put it in a box with holes in it.
"The police were amazing, the RSCPA didn't answer the phone and the vets were not very helpful.
"Luckily the reptile guy took it, he has sent lots of videos of it.
"I didn't think it was going to have a happy ending. There was no safe place to keep it.
"It wasn't the Friday we were expecting."
