A pet python has been found alive more than two weeks after she escaped from her owner's home.

Jacob Edwards said his ball python Xanthe went missing from his home in Bretton, Peterborough, on 11 September, but was finally found in his neighbour's garden on Tuesday.

The 4.5ft (1.4m) snake had escaped through a small vent in the back of her enclosure before leaving Edwards' home through a door which had accidentally been left open.

"It completely threw me off and I absolutely had no hope that she would still be alive nearly three weeks later," the 23-year-old said.

Edwards said he immediately ran home from his workplace after his partner told him Xanthe was found wrapped around the roots of a rose bush.

"It was absolute torture trying to get her out of there and the neighbour was terrified," he said.

He said the four-year-old snake's whereabouts since her disappearance were unclear, with a trail found after she went missing suggesting she left the house and turned left.

But the neighbouring garden where his pet was found was to the right of his home, he continued.

Edwards, who has kept snakes since he was 13, said Xanthe's enclosure was normally heated to a maximum of about 32C, far warmer than it has been outside in recent weeks.

"With the weather conditions, I did not think she would survive," he admitted.

The snake keeper said a vet had since diagnosed Xanthe with septicaemia – a life-threatening bacterial infection of the blood – and prescribed her painkillers and antibiotics.

"She beat all the odds outside so I'm really hoping she can beat the odds with this as well," he added.

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