Giant snake 'blind in one eye' and faces long recovery after being found in country lane

The female 6ft-long albino boa constrictor was found on a road just outside Baschurch on Saturday afternoon by a number of motorists, before being taken in by Abbie's Pets & Exotics in Ditherington Road, Shrewsbury.

The white snake is now recovering, but staff at the shop have warned it will be a long time until she's back to full health.

Tom Pearce, who works with reptiles and amphibians at the shop, said early signs were encouraging after the boa constrictor was brought in on Saturday.

"She's moving about now," he said. "The first 24 hours she stayed in one spot. She's not eaten yet but we'll keep trying her with food. She's still very underweight."

The snake, which so far has not been named, is thought to have shed its skin in the days before she was found, with stuck shed - where old skin does not come off properly - on her tail and eye.

Mr Pearce said the piece had been removed from her eye, but it "looks like she's blind" in her left eye as a result of the stuck shed.

"It will take a few months before she's back to full health," he continued. "She's got quite a long way to go."

It's not known how long the snake had been out in the Shropshire countryside or whether she had been dumped or had escaped, but the snake had been unable to hunt for food.

Boa constrictors normally weigh around 10kgs. While the albino snake has not yet been weighed, Mr Pearce said she is "much, much thinner than that", adding that her spine - something you'd normally need to press down on to feel - is visible, and that she has folds of skin as a result of losing weight.

Usually found in tropical climates in Central and South America, where the warm temperatures and high humidity of the rainforests in particular suit their bodies, boa constrictors typically feed on small mammals. In captivity they tend to need a diet of rats or, if really large, small rabbits.

A boa constrictor can go two weeks or even a month without eating after they've consumed a large amount of food.

However, while boa constrictors need to be kept in humid environments, the female is currently being kept in dry conditions to help clear up a respiratory infection. Staff have managed to clean her mouth since her arrival, and her breathing has improved since the weekend.

"The main concern is getting her up to weight," added Mr Pearce.

The snake was found by Ben Hawkes and his 13-year-old son Coen, when they came across it in the road and saved it from being run over before carefully transporting it by car to Abbie's Pets & Exotics.

"I was mostly certain it was a boa, and shouldn't be risky to pick up as long as I kept a gentle hold near its head in case it became aggressive. If I had any doubts about what kind of snake it was, I would have stayed a long way away!," Mr Hawkes said.

Mr Hawkes and his done bundled the snake up in a blanket inside a shopping basket before taking it to Shrewsbury.

"All the time, Coen had his hand on the blanket to make sure the snake didn't find its way out. He was a little nervous - we don't usually travel with a 6ft snake in the car - and he could feel the snake moving around in the blanket, but we got there with no mishaps."

Speaking on Sunday, Sarah Smout, who works at the family business, said it hadn't yet been decided what will happen to the snake when it is back at full fitness, but she has sounded out some small zoos to see if they could take in the albino reptile in the future.