A horrified litter picker admitted she "squealed" upon discovering four live pythons inside two pillowcases dumped by the side of the road.
Maria Clutterbuck, 54, initially thought she had found two bags of sand on Chosen Way in Hucclecote, Gloucester on Good Friday but a closer inspection found she could not be more wrong.
The pillowcases in fact contained four huge pythons and it's believed the snakes would have died if they had not been found.
Maria, an online vintage business owner who carries out daily litter picks, said: "Originally I thought they were sandbags but there had been no road works recently. Then I realised they were cable-tied pillowcases and I think then my gut instinct knew something alive was inside.
"My first thought was that the bags might contain puppies or kittens. But I had a feel of the curves and it felt like snakeskin.
"Then I nudged one of the pillowcases gently with my foot and it moved - I confess I squealed a bit. When I called the police, I did wonder how much of a fool I'd look if they turned out to be washing machine hoses or something.
"But I was 99 per cent sure they were snakes - and when the police arrived and opened them up, I was right."
Maria, a mum-of-two, spotted the pillowcases at around 9pm on April 7 and immediately reported the animals to emergency services after she couldn't contact the local reptile shop.
Once police officers arrived they cut open the cases and in each they found two adult royal pythons slithering inside.
"The police came very quickly, I think they had been doubting if they were snakes," Maria said. "But one of the police offers cut them open, and when she saw, she squealed as well."
A friend of Maria's, who lived locally, confirmed that the snakes had been there since at least 3pm having checked her dash cam footage from when she passed.
The snakes, when found hours later, were "docile" due to being cold-blooded and exposed to the cold for so long.
Maria said: "They would not have survived the night - it was four degrees when I found them. It got down to freezing that night too - they would not have survived the temperatures."
It is not yet clear who dumped the snakes on the side of the road, although Maria suspects that the owner's reason for abandoning the reptiles would be down to costs.
She said: "Ultimately they are pets and of a considerable size - someone must have had them a long time.
"What goes through your mind dumping them on a side street knowing they could just die?"
