A woman called the RSPCA after a 3ft (90cm) snake tried to get into her bedroom window in Basildon, Essex, this month. Enola Evans, who was sent to remove the creature, having started work with the animal rescue charity only a month earlier, said: “It’s not every day you get woken up by a snake trying to get into your bedroom through a window. The woman was terribly shocked. “By this time, there was no sign of the snake at the window, so the resident gave me permission to search her bedroom in case it had come inside and hidden somewhere warm. But after thoroughly checking bed linen and other possible hiding places in the bedroom, the snake was still nowhere to be found. “As the window had been open for so long, it was getting quite chilly in there, so I decided to shut it. That’s when I spotted something moving. It was the snake, coiled around the window’s rim. He had been very well hidden, so I was really pleased to find him.” It was found to be a corn snake, a non-venomous breed that is sometimes kept as a pet. The snake was moved into a carrier and taken to an expert boarding facility to be cared for until it can be reunited with its owner or put up for adoption. Last year, the RSPCA received 1,219 reports about pet snakes in need of help, including many stray snakes. A high number of calls came in during the summer months, as snakes become more active during hot weather. Evie Button, an RSPCA scientific officer, said: “Snakes are excellent escape artists and will take the opportunity of a gap in an enclosure door or a loose-fitting lid to make a break for it.”