/ 4 May 2005

Not just a free gift in this box of cereal

A British five-year-old boy got a nasty surprise when a 60cm snake slithered out of his breakfast-cereal box, his mother said on Wednesday.

Jordan Willett, from Dawley, Shropshire, in England’s West Midlands, discovered the non-venomous reptile in his box of Golden Puffs on Monday.

”My lad, he went to open his cereal and luckily enough I was behind him because a snake popped out,” said Willett’s mother, Theresa (23).

”I just screamed. I grabbed the box off him and found some Sellotape. Jordan’s still in shock today. He’s not eating. Neither am I.”

Netto, the supermarket chain from which the Willetts bought the cereal, said it is checking its stock and pursuing the matter with the makers of Golden Puffs, a Collier’s brand.

An expert who examined the corn snake, which feeds on mice and birds, concluded it has been kept as a pet in England and has been well looked after. — Sapa-AFP