'Powerful' python found on street

This type of reticulated python is not common in the UK Enlarge Image

Experts are trying to find the owner of a 12ft-long (3.65m) python found on a country road in Monmouthshire.

The reticulated python was found at Gwehelog near Usk on Saturday and was bundled into a duvet cover before it was handed over for safe keeping.

This large breed of "notoriously unfriendly" snake is not common in the UK, according to Peter Heathcote, who is currently looking after the snake.

"They are sufficiently powerful to cause you serious harm," he said.

Mr Heathcote, who as an approved exotic animal handler has given the reptile a temporary home.

"They were surprisingly lucky - my advice to them is to buy a lottery ticket this week Peter Heathcote

The breed, from Asia, can grow up to 30ft (9.14m) long.

It is not poisonous, but strong enough to hurt anyone who approaches, said Mr Heathcote, who owns a vet's practice.

This one has six rows of teeth, 70 in all, weighs between four and five stone, and he estimates is about four or five years old.

Mr Heathcote said the people who found the python phoned the RSPCA and were told to put it in a duvet cover, which they did.

Confirmed

"They were surprisingly lucky - my advice to them is to buy a lottery ticket this week," he joked.

The python, which feeds on a diet of large rats and small rabbits in the wild, is now being looked after in his practice at Malpas in Newport.

"It's fascinating how you can lose a 12ft snake so easily," said Mr Heathcote, adding it was usually only experienced keepers who kept them in special enclosures.

"I have never seen a reticulated python and we will be looking for a home for this one," he said.

An RSPCA spokeswoman confirmed the python had been found on the road at Gwehelog on Saturday.

"Our normal advice with snakes is to put them in a pillowcase, but obviously something bigger was needed in this case," she said.

She added: "We've made an appeal for the owners to come forward. It's clearly not a naturally occurring animal in south Wales.

"It really should have been kept securely. It's a bit of mystery as to what it's doing in the Welsh countryside."