Fifteen months later, the snake was found under a compost heap just a field away from its former home.
Mark Gordon-Hill’s pet milk snake escaped its enclosure 15 months ago in Donington, Lincolnshire, England. Fifteen months later, the snake was found under a compost heap just a field away from its former home. Emma Dormer’s husband found the snake as he was gardening.
“I was terrified,” Dormer told BBC News. “I reached out to our local Donington Facebook page and within minutes people put us in touch with Mark, the owner. Hopefully… the last we will see of that!”, she said.
Gordon-Hill told the BBC that the photo looked like his snake, but wouldn’t know for sure until he saw it in person.
“There was this little inkling in my head. I was like – that’s exactly the same snake that went missing a year ago, and then when I got there, I was like, yeah, that’s my snake! The markings, a deforming on the tail, which I knew was my snake straight away,” he said.
Milk snakes (Lampropeltis triangulum) are a species of kingsnake. Currently there are more than 30 subspecies. They are found throughout much of the United States, from Colorado to the Eastern Seaboard, into Mexico, Ecuador and Guatemala. They are very popular with reptile keepers and are widely captive bred.


