Worried snake owner reveals her six foot boa constrictor Bo has been missing for a week... and she's hungry

A six-foot boa constrictor has escaped from its owner’s garden, causing trepidation among neighbours.
Just days after headlines about two boys strangled to death by a python in Canada, the snake gave its owners the slip and slithered out of their Yorkshire garden.
The reptile, called Bo, was described as ‘hungry’ and there were fears for the safety of family pets.

Pet: A snake (pictured) is on the run having escaped from a garden in Rotherham, South Yorkshire and it hasn't been fed for two weeks

It hasn’t eaten for nearly a fortnight and was due to be fed when it made its break for freedom. Normally the boa constrictor eats large rats.

Owner Corrine Swann said Bo was generally non-threatening, but  urged her neighbours to be on  their guard as the snake may snack on their pets.

She said: ‘Boas are notoriously greedy. If she starts to get hungry I am concerned she might go for small animals like rabbits or a cat.’

On Monday brothers Connor, 7, and Noah Barthe, 5, were strangled to death as they slept, by a 13ft pet python which escaped from its enclosure in New Brunswick, Canada.

Missing: Corrine Swann with the cage used to home a 6ft boa Constrictor she owns with her partner Damion

Mrs Swann, 32, said Bo, who is two-and-half-years-old, was basking in the family garden in Rotherham when it escaped while they ate dinner.

The family often leave the pet in the garden to warm up in the sunshine and say it normally ‘never goes anywhere’.

They suspect the reptile slithered out of their fully-fenced garden through a tight gap between  their house and a neighbouring property. Bo was only left alone for half-an-hour.

After an hour of frantic searching the couple called police who have now joined the snake hunt.

Home: Bo slithered away from this garden and hasn't been seen since. She might eat a cat or a rabbit

Upset: Corrine holds the skin from her snake Bo to illustrate how long she is

Mrs Swann, a former dinner lady, said her children were distraught.

‘We just want her back now, there has been a few tears from the girls. They love her to bits.’

Boa constrictors are not poisonous, but their bite can be painful. After catching its prey a boa will then ‘constrict’ its catch, effectively squeezing it to death, before swallowing it whole.

Mrs Swann’s husband, Damion, said Bo is placid around the couple’s three young children and is ‘fine with my five-year-old holding her’.

THE BOA CONSTRICTOR: A PREDATOR WITH A FEARSOME REPUTATION

Boa constrictors are nonpoisonous snakes found in the jungles of Central and South America.
Growing up to 13ft (4m) long and weighing an impressive 100lbs (45kgs) they are related to the anaconda, the largest of all the snakes.
Carnivorous, the live on a diet of rodents, birds monkeys and even wild pigs. The wrap their bodies around their prey and squeeze it until it suffocate.
Their jaws can stretch wide open allowing them to swallow their victims whole.
In the wild they can live up to 30 years.
Females incubate their eggs inside their bodies meaning they give birth can have up to 60 live babies.
They are normally about 2ft long at both and continue growing throughout their lives. The largest ever boa measured 18ft (5.5m).
Mr Swann said Bo, described as black and brown in colour, was generally not threatening but urged his neighbours to be on their guard.

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