A woman was horrified to discover a huge python slithering around in her bathtub.
Natasha Evans, 17, found the reptile at her home in Hebburn, Tyne and Wear, her mother, Trudi, 45, was at work when she received a terrified phonecall.
"Of course I didn't believe her," she said. "Or I thought if anything it was a little grass snake or a worm."
It turned out the deadly snake had been on the loose since July after it escaped from a neighbour's collection.
"She sounded really scared so I thought I had no choice but to leave work and go home.
"I think my boss thought I'd made up some kind of ridiculous lie to get out of work.
"When I got there, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. There was a huge snake as long as my arm in the bath.