Charity staff had a fright when they found a corn snake hiding inside a toolbag at their base in Surrey.
RSPCA inspector Liz Wheeler was called to Surrey disability charity MERU, which makes specially designed and adapted toys and equipment for children and adults with disabilities.
“Staff were rather shocked when they were rummaging around in the toolbag to find a screwdriver and found the brightly-coloured snake instead,” she said. “The young corn snake was only around 30cm long and was hiding among the tools in the zipped-up bag.”
Staff called the RSPCA and Liz collected the snake – now nicknamed Meru after the charity – and took him to the RSPCA’s Putney Animal Hospital, in London.
A MERU spokesperson said: “During a post-lockdown tidy-up, we found more than we were bargaining for! Nick, one of the product engineers, shouted out when he found the corn snake in a tools bag. The snake had found himself a safe, warm spot along with the screwdrivers, pliers and tape measures.
“Emma, another engineer, laughed as she thought he meant a rubbery toy snake because that’s what the team usually works with making children’s equipment and toys… but she changed her mind when they saw him poke his head out from behind the tools.”
