"I was just brushing my teeth and saw what looked like a snake head pop from behind the wall at the back of the toilet," Visinoni recalled. "I didn't take it in at first and then looked again and realized what I had actually seen so I left the bathroom quickly and closed the door."
"We went back in and watched as the snake then slithered onto the top of the toilet and sat on the seat just looking at us," he said.
Visinoni and Isaac sealed up the room and the next day RSPCA animal rescuer Sonia Hulme was summoned to the scene.
Hulme found the snake, which she identified as a royal python, behind the radiator in the bathroom.
"She was quite feisty and really didn't want to come away from the radiator -- so I managed to unscrew the top part and as it dropped forward," Hulme said. "Harry caught the radiator and I managed to hold the tail of the snake using a pillowcase covering my hands, which I safely managed to get her into."
Hulme said the snake is believed to have belonged to the previous occupant of the apartment, who died several months earlier. She said the snake was likely hiding inside the apartment for all of that time.
"I thought it was quite apt that this royal python was found on the throne -- and as she is a female we thought it would be appropriate to call her Lulu," she said.
Lulu is now in the care of an RSPCA specialist reptile keeper.
"We were so grateful to the RSPCA who came out really quickly and the inspector was great at getting the snake out safely. We really support what the charity does and we are pleased Lulu is now in safe hands," Isaac said.
