Giant snake 'on the loose' as man finds 'eight foot skin' on Loch Lomond

A man fishing on a Loch Lomond island said he was “astonished” to find an eight foot shedded snakeskin.

Thomas Hanlan was kayaking when he took a lunch break on Inchtavannach on Monday afternoon.

On the island he came across what he thought at first was a fishing net – but turned out to be a serpent’s shedded skin.

Holding it up, he saw the snakeskin was eight feet long – two feet taller than himself – and ten inches wide – suggesting it is not the skin of your average native adder or grass snake.

The 51-year-old didn’t hang about and said he was “off the island rapid” following the discovery – warning some young men who were planning to stay the night camping to “sleep with one eye open”.

STV consulted a reptile expert who said the skin resembled that of a python or boa.

An eight foot shedded snake skin. Thomas Hanlan

“I go fishing and kayaking on the island, and I came across it right away”, he told STV News.

“At first I thought it was a fishing net. I held it up and it was eight feet tall, which is two foot bigger than man, and when we opened it up it was about ten inches wide.

“I was astonished to see it, it’s the strangest thing I’ve found.

“Snakes this size are not native to the country. We can get adders, or grass snakes, but their skin is usually only two feet. I think it could be a boa constrictor, or a python that has been let loose.

“Anyway I was off the island rapid.”

Adders are the only native snake to Scotland and usually measure between 60 and 80cm in length.

Thomas thinks that the skin could be from a pet snake that has been abandoned on the island, or could even be a prank to scare away potential visitors.

“I think it’s a pet snake that’s been set free,” he told STV News.

“It could also be a prank, someone has just left it on the island to mess with people.

“It won’t stop me going on the island anytime in the future.

“When we were leaving there was some boys out on the beach camping, I told them to sleep with one eye open.”

Inchtavannach wouldn’t be the only Loch Lomond island to be home to a non-native species.

Inchconnachan, which sits just to its east, is known as Wallaby Island.

The wallabies, a small kangaroo-like animal native to Australia, were introduced by Fiona Gore, Countess of Arran, in the 1940s, and still roam wild.

The island is one of the very few places outside Australia which has a viable population of the creatures.

The Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park authority declined to comment.