RAT TRAP: Joanne Bain tries to coax her rat snake down the chimney with the help of a pet mouse Snowball

Santa's going to get a pretty big shock at one York house this Christmas - there's a six-foot rat-eating snake stuck up the chimney.

The snake slithered behind the fire a week ago and now her distraught owner, Joanne Bain, may resort to knocking walls down at her Clifton home to free Ki the Californian rat snake for fear she might die.

But Joanne, of Wilberforce Avenue, reckons the warm and dark environment is heaven for Ki, and she has taken the desperate measure of borrowing a friend's mouse in a bid to lure her from her lair.

Ki normally feeds on dead mice and could grow to a magnificent eight feet if Joanne can get her back.

She said: "I got Ki as a house-warming present when I moved to York from London about seven months ago.

"My mum has always had snakes and I've been brought up with them. So when I got Ki I thought she was lovely and beautiful.

"But now she's disappeared up the chimney. I've phoned the RSPCA for some hints as to what to do. My main worry is that she will die through starvation. If nothing happens soon I'll have to pay someone to look down the chimney or knock the walls down to get her out.

"Until then I'm hoping that the sound of Snowy the mouse scurrying around her cage might bring her down.

If you can help Joanne get Ki back in time for the new Millennium call the Evening Press newsdesk and we'll pass on your advice.

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