Snake which grows up to 6ft-long is living in British attics and walls - check your loft!

A snake that grows up to 6ft long is living in British attics and walls. The Aesculapian, one of Europe’s largest, is native to warmer parts of the continent, including southern France and much of Italy.

It was not seen widely in the UK for 300,000 years but it was accidentally reintroduced in the 1970s after an escape from the Welsh Mountain Zoo, in Colwyn Bay, north Wales.

The species preys on rodents, which it crushes to death but is no threat to humans. According to research overseen by Wolfgang Wüster, professor in zoology at Bangor University, the species has established itself in pockets of the UK by capitalising on the warmth of human habitats.

There are two known populations of aesculapians, which are non-venomous, in Britain. These pockets are based around the Welsh Mountain Zoo, and around London Zoo in Regent’s Park.

Wolfgang Wüster said the snakes, which are brown, olive or grey, said they had not ventured inside rooms. “You’re not going to find one under the sofa,” he added reassuringly.

Researchers captured 21 of the snakes and fitted them with radio trackers, allowing them to be followed for two years, in 2021 and 2022, to better understand their movements,

“We observed aesculapian snakes actively seeking and returning to use inhabited buildings and climbing large structures to access the attics and wall cavities of houses,” the study said. “We revealed a particular preference for buildings in male snakes, while females preferred woodland.”

The species’ willingness to use buildings sets it apart from the UK’s three native snakes, which prefer to avoid urban areas. “The adder and smooth snake are rarely found in human-dominated environments,” the study said. Grass snakes will use compost heaps and garden ponds, “but their use of anthropogenic features is significantly less extensive,” it added.

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