Snake washing??

A STUNNED mum had the shock of her life when she found a five-foot SNAKE in her washing machine.

Wendy Foley, 51, was unloading her laundry when she spotted the huge corn snake curled up on her clean clothes.

The reptile had crawled into the washer when the door was open — and survived a slithery wash

The mum-of-two, from Exeter, Devon, said: “The washing had been through a full cycle and was ended so I was going to take it out and put more washing in.

“I opened the glass door at the front and I saw something.

“I took it to be part of a pair of jeans and then I wondered if it was a toy snake that children use. But then it poked its tongue out at me.

“It was horrible and quite big. It was just sitting there on the washing.

“I screamed and screamed – I was terrified.”

Wendy — who lives with her sons, Tom, 18, and Ed, 21 — called the police but was horrified when she would have to wait until the next DAY before the RSPCA would take the snake away.

She said: “The boys and I waited outside the house for a while because we were so scared. Then they went to bed and I just sat on my bed all night absolutely petrified.

“I kept thinking that it would get out and that there could be more than one in the house. I hate snakes. They scare me and I’ve absolutely no idea where this one came from.”

A Devon and Cornwall police spokesman said it had referred the matter to the RSPCA.

Exeter RSPCA spokesperson Jo Barr said: “The snake was in good health, not injured and was confined so it was not sick or in danger and an officer was sent out first thing in the morning.”

Corn snakes are a North American species of rat snake and can reach lengths of up to nearly two metres.

They are not poisonous but can bite if scared.