Man perturbed by large python in his toilet

Luke Harcla was attending to nature's call when nature itself came too close for comfort.

The hairdresser from Springfield, South East Queensland, Australia, was startled last Monday when he discovered a two-meter long diamond python in the toilet of his home. "When I first saw it I freaked," Mr Harcla said.

"I tapped the side of the toilet and it didn't move, so I got my big, long pair of tongs and gave it a bit of a poke. I thought it was dead, so I flushed it - it took a few goes - and it disappeared." But just when Mr Harcla was game enough to sit back down, the roving reptile returned to the bowl two days later.

"My partner came home to find the snake back and it was alive," he said. "Let's just say there were a few expletives." Although diamond pythons are non-venomous, they can inflict a painful bite. In some cases, their teeth have been known break off and remain implanted in the victim. Snake Advice and Relocation came to the rescue, retrieving the slippery serpent from the loo.