Python found hiding in Essex bathroom toilet after entering through sewage pipes

'It smelt of bleach and a bit toilet-y,' says animal rescuer

The python when it was found in the toilet (Laura Cowell)

Descaling the bathroom just took on a whole new meaning.

A five-year-old boy in Southend, Essex was left "frantic" after opening a toilet lid to find a three-foot-long python inside.

The toilet had been blocked for a number of days, but the family did not know why.

Laura Cowell, said she was left "petrified" by the experience and put weights on the toilet lid for several days after.

Rescuers from pet shop Scales and Fangs extracted the animal.

"It smelt of bleach and a bit toilet-y," Ethan Pinion from the shop told the BBC, saying the snake likely came up through the U-bend.

The reptile is thought to have been dumped outside a neighbours house and found its way into the house through the plumbing.

The snake – a baby royal python – is harmless and docile in nature.

It appears to be healthy, apart from suffering scale rot, which is thought to be the effect of bleach.

The mother of the boy who found the reptile, Laura Cowell, said she was left "petrified" by the experience and put weights on the toilet lid for several days after.

"He was frantic, and shaking, and I could tell something was wrong, but that was not what I expected," she said.

"I had to use a broom handle to lift the lid, then out popped its head and its tongue came out as well."