What would you do if you found this slippery character in your garden?

If you’re Sid Potter, the answer is obvious: give your mate a call to come and have a look.

After Mr Potter heard his daughter’s Jack Russell barking in his back garden in Brookscroft, Forestdale, on Thursday, he was shocked to discover a 5ft snake writhing around on the ground.

The 82-year-old immediately phoned his old friend and neighbour, David Malins, who wandered up the road, camera in hand.

Mr Malins, 83, said: “It was wriggling towards the house. It had gone as far as the patio, and it seemed to be going towards the house, maybe because it was warmer. So I knelt down in front of it and made it turn away.”

Despite plucking up the courage to get up close and take some pictures, Mr Malins said he remained wary around the scaly brown serpent.

He added: “I was being quite cautious because we didn’t know it was non-venomous, although it was quite a thin snake.”

Your Local Guardian: escaped snake in garden

However, Mr Potter’s daughter Debbie, 49, was slightly more cavalier.

Mr Malins said: “She just came along, grabbed it by the neck and shoved it in a box.

“It was quite exciting.”

The RSPCA were called, and rescuers were able to identify the snake as a North American corn snake, whose lack of venom make them safe to handle by humans.

The rescuers thought the snake had most likely escaped from somebody’s private collection before finding its way into Mr Potter’s back garden, Mr Malins said.

But he added: “Where it had come from, the Lord only knows.”

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