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Snakes alive!

1/10/2008

AN OFFICE cleaner got a shock when she discovered a live snake in a filing tray.

While tidying desks at the Macclesfield and District Volunteer Centre on Park Lane, the cleaner was surprised to find a three-foot-long corn snake lurking in the tray on Saturday, September 20.

The startled worker decided to move the creature while she carried on working – thinking it was a rubber snake or a paperweight.

But when it jolted awake, poised in its defensive mode, she jumped back aghast and called the RSPCA.

But the slithering serpent – named ‘Macc’ by its new owners – had to wait until Monday, September 22, before it could be rescued from its makeshift home.

Catherine Cross, chief officer at the centre, said: "All of the girls were checking around the loos and some were scared to go just in case another one popped out."

The orange and brown nocturnal creatures are not poisonous but are renowned for constricting their prey to death – are usually found in the Great Plains of the USA and Mexico.

Catherine said: "It had probably slipped out of the pet shop which used to be next door. We do have volunteering work available for people who like to work with animals, but not usually in the volunteer centre itself!"

A spokeswoman for the RSPCA said: "When the officer arrived (at the centre) he discovered the corn snake sleeping in the basement office. It was removed and taken to a nearby exotic reptile expert."

The proud new owner of the errant serpent, Sharon Hendrie, 49, of Cheshire Exotic Reptile Rescue in Nantwich, said: "They’ve been found in hedges and golf bags but not in an office – there’re really lovely snakes though."