Escaped snake survives for a year in Scotland

A fugitive corn snake which escaped from it’s vivarium in Scotland almost 12 months ago has been returned to her owner after spending the past year living in the wild.

Billy McAndrew explained that his four-year-old female corn snake, Onyx went missing from his home in Fife back in October 2009. This week a woman contacted Mr McAndrew asking if the snake she had found in her garden was his missing pet.

“I wasn’t holding out much hope that it would be Onyx because she had been missing for such a long time.” Mr McAndrew said.

“But she has very distinct markings, so when I described the horseshoe shape on her head and chequered pattern on her belly, the lady went away to check and came back and said ‘yes, it was a match’.”

Onyx had been found in a garden just a few streets away from where she had gone missing. The cold-blooded reptile, which is native to the southern, warmer states of North America had managed to survive the cold Scottish winter despite the odds.