There was much concern expressed on social media over the weekend when a large-ish sized snake was spotted slithering across the footpath on Portnalls Road in Coulsdon.
Slithering in suburbia: the Portnalls Road ‘python’ on the search for food and shelter
“Was just on a walk and saw a snake roaming the streets,” reported a startled member of the public.
“Looked pretty harmless but was quite shocked as I’ve never seen one locally. Does anyone know what sort of snake is this? And is it common?”
Among the dozens of replies, some suggested that the snake was a native grass snake. Others disagreed, saying it was too big and well-marked, and also dismissing any suggestion that it might be a slow worm.
Most eliminated the possibility that it might be a venomous adder, the only poisonous snake native to Britain.
And one or two assessed the markings on the snake and suggested it might be a juvenile python, someone’s pet – inevitably, with dull humour, called “Monty” – that had either escaped or been released illegally (and cruelly).
Pythons are found in the wild in Africa, India and south-east Asia (think Kaa in The Jungle Book and Australia, and there is now a non-native population in the Florida Everglades. Pythons include some of the largest snakes in the world. Being non-venomous, pythons must constrict their prey to suffocate it prior to consumption.
Even when young, pythons are capable of taking a pet rabbit or guinea pig for food.
The fate of the Portnalls Road python after the weekend is unknown. If sighted, it would be best to report it to the RSPCA and keep track of it until collected safely.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T
FREE ADS: Paid-up subscribers to Inside Croydon qualify for a free ad for their business, residents’ association or community group, just one of the benefits of being part of our online community. For more information about being an iC subscriber, click here for our Patreon page
PAID ADS: To advertise your services or products to our near 10,000 weekday visitors to the site, which is featured on Google News Showcase and followed by 16,000 on Twitter/X, email us inside.croydon@btinternet.com for our unbeatable ad rates
- If you have a news story about life in or around Croydon, or want to publicise your residents’ association or business, or if you have a local event to promote, please email us with full details at inside.croydon@btinternet.com
As featured on Google News Showcase
- Our comments section on every report provides all readers with an immediate “right of reply” on all our content. Our comments policy can be read by clicking here
Inside Croydon is a member of the Independent Community News Network
- Inside Croydon works together with the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, as well as BBC London News and ITV London
ROTTEN BOROUGH AWARDS: In January 2024, Croydon was named among the country’s rottenest boroughs for a SEVENTH successive year in the annual round-up of civic cock-ups in Private Eye magazine
https://www.ncrw.co.uk/
Based at Hadlow College near Tonbridge.
They are regularly called to assist in such cases.
If I’m not mistaken it’s a Common Or Garden ‘Snake In the Grass’. We have them all over Croydon, which is why it’s called ‘Common’
That’s Chris Philp. After he shaved his beard.