SIGHTINGS of a slippery snake slithering the city's streets have sparked a large scale search.

One man who saw the snake thought it was a fake and, knowing others might not believe him, used his mobile phone to record the wriggling reptile.

Suhail Mahmood said he couldn't believe his eyes when he saw the orange and brown corn snake sliding through metal railings in Girlington.

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The 27-year-old's film attracted thousands of hits when posted on the Telegraph & Argus website yesterday.

Mr Mahmood saw the snake on a pathway between Dalton Terrace and Hollings Terrace at around 7pm on Tuesday.

"I was really scared.

"I felt like I had to record it as people might not believe what I had seen. They might have thought I was making it up," he said, adding that he had not seen such a large snake before.

"No-one I have shown the video can believe I saw a snake around here. Every single person is shocked.

"I was worried about the children around here. A lot of them play around the area where I saw the snake," said Mr Mahmood of Dickens Way, West Bowling.

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Several people contacted the Telegraph & Argus about the snake yesterday. One person thought it was a tropical rainbow boa, but many correctly spotted it was a corn snake.

Reader Shamaila Hussain was at a family gathering on Tuesday when children, who weren't believed at first, saw it in Hollings Road.

"When they came back a second time, after we told them to go away, it was obvious they were telling the truth so me and my cousin went to see it.

"We were shocked - right there in front of us was the snake," she said.

The reptile may still be on the loose, but the mystery of where it came from has been solved.

The manager of Prism City Farm, Katie Corfield, is confident the snake is Draco - a seven-year-old who went missing three weeks ago.

"It is definitely him," she said, after viewing the video footage online.

"He is a little escape artist. But he does not usually go out of his animal house at the farm," she added.

She said the four-foot snake, named after the Harry Potter character Draco Malfoy, often slipped away from the inner city farm in Walker Drive, Girlington, during breeding season.

"He goes missing all of the time but never goes as far as he has done this time.

"We have been searching around the farm for him," she said.

"He is still out there somewhere."

The farm has another corn snake, Pansy, aged ten.

Corn snakes, found across America, are not venomous and may be found in wooded groves, rocky hillsides, barns and abandoned buildings.

But despite the snake not being a threat to people, some residents living nearby are concerned.

Rozwina Yousaf and her daughter Useyra Khan, seven, of Walker Drive, Girlington are both scared of snakes.

She said: "I was very worried about it last night. 

"My daughter has been terrified. We both won't be able to rest until the snake is found. 

"It was very warm but I had to keep all of the windows and doors shut in my house in case it slithers in here. 

"I was traumatised when I found out City Farm were keeping snakes. But they old me they wouldn't escape and they would not harm. 

"Everybody here is talking about it. People who live close to City Farm have had their windows and doors closed because they were so worried. 

"My neighbours are so scared too. 

"I can't even look at pictures of snakes or on TV."

The RSPCA said it had not had any reportings of sightings of the snake.

If you see the snake, contact our newsroom by e-mailing newsdesk@telegraphandargus.co.uk or calling 01274 705292.