Stockport snake: Woman says she is driven out of home by reptile

Karen Furnass says a snake appeared at her home in Stockport and then vanished down a crack

A woman has said she has been driven out of her home by a large snake which she believes has disappeared down a crack in the window sill.

Karen Furnass said she had woken up to find the reptile hanging from a ledge above the front door inside her home in Heaton Mersey, Stockport.

She said she had struggled to get help to remove it and feared it was now hiding under the floorboards.

"I am not staying here with the snake in my house", the 59-year-old said.

She has decided to book an Airbnb after she found the snake in her home on New Beech Road.

"At first I thought it was a bit of material," she told BBC Radio Manchester.

Ms Furnass, who owns a beauty parlour in Yorkshire, said she immediately shut the lounge door and took her dog upstairs, before the snake disappeared down a crack in doorway.

Ms Furnass says she caught a close up of the markings on the snake's underbelly

She said police officers had come to her house and despite being a "bit scared to come in", they helped search "under cushions, in the cellar".

A Greater Manchester Police spokeswoman said the force had attended but could not locate the snake.

Ms Furnass said she had been "passed from pillar to post" by the RPSCA when she asked the animal charity for help.

The BBC has contacted the RSPCA for a response.

The snake disappeared down this crack in a windowsill above a doorway, Ms Furnass says

Ms Furnass said she had "no idea" how the reptile slithered in, but said it was "proper scary".

"Maybe it's been coming in every evening and I haven't seen it."

Wildlife charity Amphibian and Reptile Conservation said: "From the photographs provided, we believe this is a young corn snake.

"These are commonly kept as pets, are not venomous and are completely harmless to humans."

The charity said it was "likely it belongs to a nearby neighbour as it will not have travelled far", adding that corn snakes were "good at escaping their enclosures".