‘Has anyone lost a snake?’: Man wakes up at 2am to find neighbour’s pet crawling up stairs

Most people might think they were still asleep in the middle of a nightmare if they came across a snake climbing their stairs at 2am.

But one man who had this experience said he found the serpent ‘cute’, and did everything in his power to return it to its owner, who just so happened to live next door.

Joel Rickard, who lives in Cromford Road, Wandsworth, woke up one morning in June and encountered Cornelius, a corn snake, curled up on his staircase.

Despite one of his flatmates immediately leaving to get as far away as possible from the creature, Joel decided to help the snake return home.

Joel said: “Local animal services couldn’t help as snakes aren’t a common pet to have, so I put a post on [community forum] Nextdoor asking if anyone had lost a snake.”

Joel’s post received lots of interest, and one woman contacted to say it looked like her friend’s snake, who coincidentally used to live in the very house Joel does.

The previous owners had moved and gifted the snake to the neighbour next door. Cornelius the snake was just trying to make his way home and had got himself lost, he’d been missing for more than six months when Joel found him.

“He could’ve been living in our house for months and decided to venture out as the weather got warmer,” said Joel.

“He’s really cute and tame. After I posted on Nextdoor, we found Cornelius’ owner within two days, and he was so pleased to get him back.”

Five years’ worth of national missing pet data analysed by Nextdoor shows a 63 per cent increase in pets being reported as missing or stolen during the summer, compared to the winter months.

Reasons include a change in routines, children at home for the holidays, owners going away or abroad, and more time out and about in gardens, parks and perhaps exploring new and less familiar outdoor spaces.

Nextdoor has become a popular platform to find missing pets, with more than 5,000 Brits and pets being reunited in the last 12 months after using it.

Laura Roche, managing director of Nextdoor UK, said: “Losing a loved pet can be a traumatic event for you and your family and it’s impossible to search every corner of your neighbourhood by yourself.

“Use the community you have at your fingertips and post a photo of your missing pet onto Nextdoor so that your neighbours can keep a lookout for your pet too. We’re really pleased Nextdoor can help so many thousands of people in this way.”

Pictured top: Joel Rickard with his new found friend Cornelius the snake and Cornelius climbing the stairs (Picture: Joel Rickard)