A NINE-YEAR-OLD Weymouth boy has been reunited with his pet snake - eight months after he lost it.

Ruben Last, of Links Road, read about his pet snake being found in the Dorset Echo near his home.

The non-venomous Carolina Corn Snake, which Ruben named 'Hissss' disappeared last November a month after Ruben got it for his birthday.

Earlier this week, the Dorset Echo reported that a Carolina Corn Snake had been found on Links Road and handed in to CC Moore & Co, a pet supplies store on the Granby Industrial Estate.

Ruben instantly recognised the lost snake as his own pet and picked it up from the store the next day.

It is thought the snake had been hibernating for the winter, before emerging in the warm weather.

Ruben said: “I'm really happy to have it back again.

“We'd only taken our eyes off it for a minute and it was gone and my dad realised it had probably escaped through a hole in the floor.

“We looked for it for ages and I got really upset because we couldn't find it.”

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Chris Hewlett, who works at CC Moore & Co, said: “The young lad described the snake to me before I showed him it and he knew straight away which one it was even though we have quite a few here.

“Apparently the snake has been missing since November so I imagine it was hibernating over winter and has come out again now it's warmed up.

“I've done my part and showed him what to do to make sure the snake is secure in its cage. He was absolutely over the moon to have it back.”

Ruben even made a card for his lost snake with a drawing of the two of them and wrote: “To Hissss, please come back I really miss you, Lots of Love Ruben.”

He said: “I never thought it was going to come back, I'm going to make sure I take really good care of it now.

“I want to say thank you to the people who found him and to the pet shop for looking after him.”