Actor Finds 4ft Python Curled Up on His Toilet Seat

KEY POINTS

Harry Visinoni and his girlfriend secured the bathroom before calling RSPCA
RSPCA officials say the reptile must have escaped months ago and probably lived in the wall cavity
The reptile has been named Lulu and is doing well

Actor Harry Visinoni, who plays Seb Franklin in the soap opera "Coronation Street," got the fright of his life on Saturday morning when he spotted a 4-foot royal python curling up on his toilet seat, in the middle of the night, at his home in Hale, U.K.

He called the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) in the morning, which came and took the reptile away, said a report by BBC News.

"I was just brushing my teeth and saw what looked like a snakehead pop from behind the wall at the back of the toilet. I didn’t take it in at first and then looked again and realized what I had actually seen so I left the bathroom quickly and closed the door," Visinoni said.

When he and his partner Ellie went back in, they saw the snake slither on to the top of the toilet seat, just looking at them.

An hour later, the couple again entered the bathroom, but could no longer see the snake. So they secured the room and spent a "sleepless night dreaming about snakes" before calling the RSPCA the next morning.

The animal charity sent Sonia Hulme to the house, who located the reptile behind a radiator. She managed to catch it using a pillowcase.

"I thought it was quite apt that this royal python was found on the throne -- and as she is a female we thought it would be appropriate to call her Lulu," she said.

It is thought that the snake belonged to the previous owner of the apartment, who had passed away. "We suspect she escaped months ago and probably lived in the wall cavity -- but thankfully snakes can often survive with long gaps between meals. She is in really good condition and is certainly feeding well now," Hulme said.

As of 2018, there appear to be about 2 million snakes kept as pets in the U.K., with corn snakes and royal pythons being the most popular species.

According to the Federation of British Herpetologists, a survey found that about 60 people in England had licenses to keep venomous snakes, and that more than 300 venomous snakes are kept as pets in the country.