Man finds 4 foot snake under car bonnet

A car owner got the fright of his life when he opened the bonnet of his car and saw a 4ft-long Californian cornsnake resting on the engine. Errol Davis (50) of Sycamore Fields, Harlow, was preparing to top up the oil in his BMW when he was greeted by the sight of the bright orange serpent. “I saw it as soon as I opened the bonnet and screamed like a five-year-old girl,” said the father-of-four, who has a severe phobia of snakes. “It was right next to my hand and moving around so I just ran. Give me spiders or crocodiles or anything else, I don't mind. But not snakes. I just hate snakes!”

Errol went straight to the MOT’s R UZ garage in Edinburgh Way where he knows the owner, Shaun Cope. “I ran all the way there, gave over my keys and told them ‘You deal with it’. I wouldn’t give my car away just like that so they knew something was up although I don’t think they believed me when I said it was a snake.” Shaun and his mechanics were amazed when they saw the snake for themselves. “It certainly isn’t a car issue we’ve experienced here before,” he said. “We decided to leave it overnight in the hope that it would move off on its own accord.


Photo from SWNS.

“Then over the next week we literally took everything but the bumper off the car to try to find it but we saw nothing so assumed it must have gone or died. Then on the last day I was jet-washing the engine and ‘Dread the Snake’ – as we have nicknamed it here – popped its head up again. It was unbelievable. You tell me where a bright orange 4ft snake managed to hide all that time.” It was Shaun who eventually put an end to the saga when, using a tea towel, he managed to grab hold of the snake and and pull it from the engine.

The RSPCA have since taken the snake, which is not poisonous, to an exotic animal shelter where they say it is doing well. Errol said he believed the snake must have been living in his car for around three weeks after being abandoned by its owner. “I remember a few weeks ago walking past some aquarium tanks that had been left by the road,” he said. “"Soon after a sign went up asking if anyone had lost a bright orange snake as it had been spotted in our car park. Even that gave me nightmares. I kept imagining it slithering into my room at night so you can imagine what this week has been like.”