A MAN jumped into his shower and came face to face with a three-and-a-half foot snake.

Nasir Javed, 29, first thought his wife Yasmin, 30, put a toy snake in the bathroom as a prank, but ran out when he saw the black and orange corn snake uncoil itself.

He locked the bathroom door and ran down the stairs to tell his wife what he had found at 2.45pm on Monday.

After he contacted the RSPCA, which removed the snake within three hours, Nasir, who works for Dixy Fried Chicken, Whalley New Road, Blackburn, searched through CCTV footage in a bid to see how the snake may have got into his home.

Nasir has three CCTV cameras at the front of his home in Ambelside Close, Blackburn, and trawled through the videos for half an hour but could not find the snake.

So the family believe it may have come up through the pipes.

Before the RSPCA arrived, Nasir kept a close eye on the non-venomous reptile to make sure it did not slip away or scare his boys Mohammad Yousaf, two, Imaan, five, and Ramzy, seven.

Nasir said: "It must have been somebody's pet.

"I couldn't believe it. You don't expect to see snakes in homes in this country."

His sister Saima Ashraf, 24, of Windermere Close, Blackburn, said: "My brother's mother-in-law had been in the bathroom just five minutes before Nasir was about to have a shower.

"But she didn't see it. When my brother found the snake he ran down the stairs and called my dad because he didn't know who to call.

"There was a leak in the bathroom and the floorboard have been lifted up so it could have come in through the pipes or the toilet.

"It was the biggest shock of our lives seeing a snake in the bath, you could hear it hissing."