A FAMILY received an unexpected visitor when their teenage daughter discovered a snake in the bathroom.

The Mendes family were at their home in Cunningham Close, Shoebury when daughter, Mariana, 16 found the snake on the sink while she was brushing her teeth.

The family went into panic mode as the reptile slithered away and is still missing inside the home.

Mariana said: “I picked my toothbrush up and must have glanced my hand straight past it as I did that.

“It was not until I turned the tap on that I realised there was a snake right in front of me.

“I was really confused when it happened. I called down to my mum and she thought I was lying when I said that to her.

“She rushed up the stairs, saw it and everybody started screaming.”

After discovering the snake, Mariana’s mum, Claudia called the RSPCA for advice on how to deal with the animal.

Mariana said: “They told us that if it was a native snake they could come and pick it up the next day as it was midnight and way too late for them to come out, but if it was a wild snake they said there was nothing they could do so we would have to get rid of it ourselves.”

The family were fearful the snake could be dangerous and so they searched online to find out what breed it was.

Mariana said: “We were really relieved when we found that it was a corn snake and thankfully not dangerous, but in the panic the snake went missing.

“We are still quite confused about how it managed to even get into the house.”

Mariana and her mother believe that the snake slithered up the side of their home and into the bathroom through and upstairs window.

The snake has been in the house for an entire day (at the time the paper went to print) and the family are currently unsure where it has gone.

Because of the discovery, Mariana’s younger sister was slightly shaken up and spent the night in her sister’s room.

Although finding the snake was a “strange” and slightly scary moment, Mariana said that the family are already laughing about what happened on Wednesday night.

She said: “I think we will laugh about it in the future, I’ve already had a laugh about it myself, I could not believe I missed it when I first walked into the bathroom.

“We have no idea where it has gone now, we think it might be in the pipes inside the house so we hope it will come out again soon.”