Chinese man recoils in horror as he finds snake inside gas water heater

A man in southwest China trying to see why his gas water heater was not working was shocked to find a dead half-metre long snake inside when he removed the cover, the Chongqing Times reports.

The man said he could not turn on the water heater which he bought not long ago. He removed the cover to check the pilot light and “almost had a heart attack”.

Once he sure the snake was dead, the man removed it with a bamboo stick, and the heater began working as usual.

An reptile expert at Chongqing zoo suggested that the snake might entered the gas heater from a tree branch close to the mouth of its exhaust pipe.