A mum has spoken of her horror at finding a snake as fat as her fist and as long as her arm inside her flat. The mum, who asked to remain anonymous, discovered the reptile had slithered into the hallway of her flat in when she was heading to the bathroom at 2am.
As reported by LeicestershireLive, she immediately called her landlord and Leicestershire Police, who said they were unable to help. So she grabbed her five-month-old son and they both spent the night in her car.
The 24-year-old said: "In the moment I didn't know what to do and for some reason I called the police - who of course couldn't help and advised me the RSPCA only come out for animals that are in danger. I called the PA housing out of hours team and they also said they couldn't do anything at this hour of the morning and just to leave the snake - which is bizarre considering I have a baby.
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"I quickly grabbed a few essentials for my baby boy and left the flat at the earliest opportunity." The mum said the out of hours team did advise her to take her child to a relative's house, but she did not have that option. She added: "They told me multiple times that they couldn't help me at all.
"I explained I suffer from anxiety and I have a baby and I live alone however their response remained the same - 'we can’t do anything' and if I found the snake I should call them back. Which is just ridiculous!
"I stayed on the phone begging them to say please just temporarily transfer us until it had been found so we are somewhere safe for tonight as we have nowhere to go. They said they couldn't even though I advised them on multiple occasions that I will be homeless for the night.
"How did they expect me to go back into that property knowing I have a baby and there’s a snake on the loose? I told them my anxiety levels were high and I had suffered many panic attacks since seeing the snake but they were so blunt in their response."
The mum-of-one says she rang PA housing at 8am the next morning, who informed her they sent a message out to all residents at Vestry House, Leicester.
She said: "They came back to me at 12 and advised that the snake belonged to my neighbour and it had escaped her cage where she keeps an additional eight snakes. My neighbour then arranged to come over to try and find the snake and take it away but she wasn’t able to find it as it had nested somewhere out of sight.
"This is just absolutely appalling. I advised them that I will be homeless and acknowledged I am tenant which they have a duty of care to is homeless for the night. We asked if we could end our tenancy effective immediately to get out of there but their answer remained the same."
The snake, was later found and collected by the neighbour. But the young mum says she is still disgusted by her landlord's response and feels her story is the latest in a long line of incidents at Vestry House.
She said: "It’s safe to say everybody knows about this building if you’re a Leicester resident. I am a mother who lives alone with her five months old baby and did not expect to find a snake in my hallway at 2am." LeicestershireLive contacted PA Housing over the incident on April 20, but did not receive a response.
