The snake, which has now been returned to its owners, is named Gozer The Gozerian, after the Ghostbusters villain.
The parents of a five-month old baby were shocked to discover a metre-long python in her room.
The royal python slithered out of the nursery of the family home in Tadworth, Surrey, down the stairs and settled under the sofa, according to the RSPCA.
It was removed by the girl’s uncle and taken to a friend nearby who owns a vivarium, much to the relief of the father of the family, who is scared of snakes.
RSPCA animal collection officer Louis Horton said: “The young royal python was very friendly so I was sure he was an escaped pet from a nearby home.
“I took him into our care but, thankfully, we were able to find his owner and return him.
“It turns out he was called Gozer the Gozerian – named after Ghostbusters – and belonged to the family’s neighbour.
“He’d been missing since May so it was nice to be able to return him home.”
Gozer the Gozerian is the main villain in the original Ghostbusters film, in which he takes the form of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man to attack New York City.
Gozer the python had escaped from his vivarium by pushing out the air vent, according to his owner Bex.
She said she did not alert neighbours at the time because she did not want to frighten them.
“Snakes are like little ninjas, it’s amazing how they can escape,” she added,
“Gozer is like Houdini. He’s very naughty but we’re so pleased to have him home.”
RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Sabreen Jouda came into the world seconds after her mother left it.
Their home was hit by an Israeli airstrike shortly before midnight Saturday. Until that moment, the family was like so many other Palestinians trying to shelter from the war in Gaza's southernmost city of Rafah.
Sabreen's father was killed. Her 4-year-old sister was killed. Her mother was killed.
But emergency responders learned that her mother, Sabreen al-Sakani, was 30 weeks pregnant. In a rush at the Kuwaiti hospital where the bodies were taken, medical workers performed an emergency cesarean section.
Little Sabreen was near death herself, fighting to breathe. Her tiny body lay in the recovery position on a small piece of carpet as medical workers gently pumped air into her open mouth. A gloved hand tapped at her chest.
She survived.
On Sunday, in the hours after the airstrike, she whimpered and wriggled inside an incubator at the nearby Emirati hospital's neonatal intensive care unit. She wore a diaper too big for her and her identity was scrawled in pen on a piece of tape around her chest: “The martyr Sabreen al-Sakani’s baby."
“We can say there is some progress in her health condition, but the situation is still at risk,” said Dr. Mohammad Salameh, head of the unit. “This child should have been in the mother’s womb at this time, but she was deprived of this right.”
He described her as a premature orphan girl.
But she is not alone.
“Welcome to her. She is the daughter of my dear son. I will take care of her. She is my love, my soul. She is a memory of her father. I will take care of her,” said Ahalam al-Kurdi, her paternal grandmother. She clutched her chest and rocked with grief.
At least two-thirds of the more than 34,000 Palestinians killed in Gaza since this war began have been children and women, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.
The other Israeli airstrike in Rafah overnight killed 17 children and two women from an extended family.
Not everyone is immediately recovered after such attacks.
“My son was also with them. My son became body parts and they have not found him yet. They do not recognize him,” said Mirvat al-Sakani, Sabreen's maternal grandmother. “They have nothing to do with anything. Why are they targeting them? We don’t know why, how? We do not know.”
On Sunday, the survivors buried the dead. Children in bloodied wraps were placed in body bags and into the dusty ground as families wailed.
Little boys watched and tried to keep their footing at the edge of a grave.
Find more of AP’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
A Palestinian baby girl, Sabreen Jouda, who was delivered prematurely after her mother was killed in an Israeli strike along with her husband and daughter, lies in an incubator in the Emirati hospital in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip. Sunday, April 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammad Jahjouh)
A Palestinian baby girl, Sabreen Jouda, who was delivered prematurely after her mother was killed in an Israeli strike along with her husband and daughter, lies in an incubator in the Emirati hospital in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip. Sunday, April 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammad Jahjouh)
