DON'T panic, it's only a five foot long python!
Mind you, it doesn't help when you are told its name is 'Nipper'...which did nothing for the confidence of veterinary nurse Claire Farina when she was told (honest!) it needed the kiss of life.
Nipper was in trouble. She was in the family way, the eggs were stuck "in the pipeline" and vet Mark Hinds had few options.
"Her condition was deteriorating and the only remaining option was a caesarean which in her weakened state was a considerable risk," he said.
Step up Claire and trainee nurse Jodi Bevan who administered the anaesthetic – and at one very delicate stage, the kiss of life – which enabled Mark to successfully carry out the operation.
Within an hour or so Nipper was reunited with his owner Ryan Mills of Popes Hill, and left the Severnside Surgery at Lydney, a little lighter but none the worse for her emergency treatment.
Mark said: "She has made a slow but steady recovery and seems to be regaining full fitness. Hopefully she will soon be passing fertile eggs."