Europe’s biggest snakes are “thriving” in the UK and are taking refuge inside people’s homes to cope with the cold weather, a new study has found.
The Aesculapian snake, which can grow up to two metres in length, has established a healthy population in parts of North Wales and London after escaping a zoo in the 1970s.The study observed that the snakes, which are native to Southern Europe, were “fond of human homes” as they looked for warmth in “attics and wall cavities”.
Currently, Britain's Aesculapian snakes can only be found along the Regent's Canal, London, and around Colwyn Bay, Wales.The snakes were introduced to Wales in the 1970s when an “unknown number of individuals” escaped from the Welsh Mountain Zoo after their enclosure collapsed.Since then, these escapees have established a stable breeding population in the area surrounding the zoo.
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