A six-foot-long boa constrictor has been found dumped on a driveway in Essex.
The snake was left without heating or water in a glass container by a man who jumped out of his car with the reptile before driving off.
The RSPCA said a resident has given them CCTV footage of the man leaving the snake outside an address in the village of Widdingham on 20 August.
Animal rescue officer Enola Evans said: “There’s never any excuse to dump an animal like this. Despite that, she was in a good condition and she is a really beautiful snake with a vivid coloured skin.”
She added she has recently picked up a number of abandoned snakes after they have died.
The officer added: “These sort of abandonments could be down to a number of factors such as the cost of living crisis and people not being able to take reptiles with them when they move homes.”
The RSPCA urged people who are struggling to meet their animal’s needs to ask for help, instead of abandoning them.
It said it has seen a 34 per cent rise in the number of dumped animals, with 2,047 cases reported to the RSPCA in June compared to 1,527 in June 2022.
The boa has been taken to a specialist aquatics and reptile centre in Norfolk.
In May a five-foot-long boa constrictor, usually found in the dense Amazon rainforest, was spotted slithering through a south London park by a stunned visitor.
The exotic pet, believed to have escaped from a local home, was rescued from the recreation ground in Surbiton by RSPCA Inspector Dale Grant.
The snake, lovingly named Lulu, had urgent vet treatment due to respiratory issues and ulcers in its mouth after it was discovered on May 12.
Boa constrictors’ diets are composed mostly of small mammals like rats and squirrels but are known to dine on monkeys, pigs and deer in their natural rainforest habitats.
Boas are not venomous; rather, they kill their prey by constriction, or squeezing, it to death. Once the prey is dead, the monster reptile, which can grow up to 13 ft long, swallows it whole.
The RSPCA said exotic pets appear to be increasing in popularity and the number of related incidents dealt with by the RSPCA has risen in recent years.
