A family in the US got a shock while trying to cook dinner when they discovered that they'd been baking a snake inside their oven.
Amber Helm and her husband Robert, who live in Wake Forest, North Carolina, were trying to rustle up a frozen pizza in their oven on Monday night. After smelling something unusual and seeing smoke billowing from their oven, they decided to check that everything was OK.
It wasn't. It would appear that a snake had managed to creep into their home, found its way into the oven, and then been accidentally killed by the family once they'd switched the oven on.
The poor creature was cooked alive along with the pizza, which they obviously didn't then eat.
Mum-of-two Amber told WRAL: "The oven started smoking and I told my boys 'back up' so I can make sure a fire or anything didn't happen.
"I looked closely and was like 'Oh my God! That's a friggin' snake!'"
Yeah, that would be something of an unwelcome surprise.
So, Amber took her two sons out for their dinner while Robert was left with the unfortunate task of clearing up the crispy reptile.
Amber continued: "We did not eat the pizza. I hear a lot of people asking the question. 'Did we eat the pizza?' No."
Robert explained: "I put the oven on self-clean after I pulled that crispy critter out."
Good idea.
However, they haven't used the oven since the incident. You don't forget the smell of burning snake that easily, it turns out.
Robert diplomatically referred to the smell as 'not good'.
He continued: "I was queasy and it was creepy. There's nothing good about finding a smoky snake in your oven."
No, there isn't. However, it was presumably even worse being inside the oven. The family believe that it was alive when the oven was turned on, as it was found with its mouth open as if it was trying to bite something.
It's not yet clear how the small snake, which was about 18 inches long, slithered into the kitchen appliance, but Amber said that she plans to hire an animal expert to get to the bottom of the matter.
She added: "I'm not happy about the way that the snake died. That's a sad way to go for any living thing.
"I have two little boys so I'm just so concerned. Every time I see a shadow I'm like freaking out,"
Understandable, to be fair.
Featured Image Credit: WRALTopics: Food, US News, Weird, Animals