A headstrong pet snake with a taste for top drawer living has given an Ashburton pensioner the shock of her life. Retired hospital domestic Patricia Lewis, 69, went to a kitchen drawer and came face to face with Amber, a 4ft long South American orange corn snake. She yelped with surprise, slammed the drawer shut and called the RSPCA. But no one from the animal charity was available to come immediately but said it was unlikely to be dangerous and should be captured. Mrs Lewis had to rely on a visitor who had, by chance, a long-reach grabber in the car. Finding an alternative use for the council's green kitchen waste caddy, the powerful snake was eventually rounded-up courtesy of the grabbers and lowered into the caddy, the lid of which was secured with sticky tape, a brick and a tin of paint for good measure. Mrs Lewis said of the woman who helped her out of her predicament but wished to remain anonymous: 'I don't know what I would have done without her, she was absolutely wonderful. 'My husband, Sam, couldn't do anything to help because he's 76 and has heart trouble. 'I'd been to that drawer three times already that day and so where did the snake come from? To think, it might even have been in my bed!' It emerged that neighbour, 13-year-old Dylan Hellier, had lost Amber, one of four pet snakes, in February. His mum, Sharyn Phillips, said the trouble had begun when Dylan moved the four-year-old snake into a new vivarium. 'Amber had been in the other one all her life. I don't think she liked the new decor so she pushed the lid off and escaped,' she said. Now Dylan is 'over the moon' at having his pet back and has thanked Mrs Lewis for finding her. It is thought Amber survived by living close to central heating pipes and finding water wherever possible. Normally she would be fed a mouse once a week, but could go months without a meal.
