VIDEO: Shock for staff after snake found in stationery cupboard

Tucked away in a box of envelopes stashed in a cabinet at Nationwide in Christchurch’s High Street, employees discovered an orange and cream corn snake.

And the creature is now being carefully nursed back to health by volunteers at the Ashley Heath Animal Centre near Ringwood.

RSPCA Inspector Patrick Bailey said: “The snake was found in a cupboard in the bank and we were called in to come and pick it up.

“The walls and ceiling of the cupboard are completely solid, so we think it must have gone in through a gap by the door, but we don’t know how long it’s been there.”

Animal welfare officer Jo Blackburn said: “It’s a little bit skinny and really thirsty. It’s also quite cold, so we’re going to warm it up again really slowly. We’ll also be introducing it to food again nice and slowly, so hopefully it will get stronger and healthier.”

As a vet is needed to tell the sex of a snake, it is currently unknown if the creature – which measures around 80 centimetres long – is male or female.

RSPCA staff believe that it may have gone missing from a nearby home.

“It’s quite friendly and happy to be handled, which suggests that it’s someone’s pet,” said Insp Bailey.

He added that the snake is likely to have sought warmth after temperatures plunged. Nationwide’s customer services manager Nicolette Ayres said a colleague had discovered the snake nestling in a box during an annual clear-out.

“She looked inside and spotted it,” she said.

“We did think she was joking at first, so it was quite a shock!”

Jo Blackburn urged anyone thinking of buying an exotic pet to research thoroughly first.

“We have huge issues with people buying these different breeds as pets without understanding the care that they need,” she said.

“They can be very expensive and difficult to keep, as well as having really long lives.

“We’d ask anyone thinking of investing in a pet like this to really, really do their research.”

For more information, call 0300 123 4999.