French driver opens car bonnet to find 1.5-metre boa

A Frenchman looking to change his car battery got a shock when he opened the bonnet: a 1.5-metre-long boa constrictor had made itself comfortable inside.

Firefighters were called to the vehicle in Colomiers, near Toulouse in southern France, with specialists trained to deal with animals also attending the scene.

The snake was removed on Tuesday without being harmed and without posing any danger to the firefighters, emergency services said on Facebook.

The car had not been used for about a month before the boa was discovered in the engine compartment.

Following its removal, the snake was taken to a veterinary school in Toulouse.

Its owner has yet to come forward, leaving veterinarians to care for the reptile for the time being, according to the Facebook post on Wednesday.

Boa constrictors are native to South America and kill their prey by coiling around and constricting it.

Fully grown specimens are generally several dozen centimetres longer than the snake found in the car.