A dad who bought an eight inch snake has seen it grow into the world's biggest ever Burmese python measuring over 18ft - and still keeps it in his three bed semi.

Marcus Hobbs, 31, a former Rednock School pupil, purchased Hexxie from a pet shop eight years ago - and watched it grow in size to110kg.

He feeds the massive snake rabbits, stillborn deer, calves, goats and pigs supplied by local farmers - and it's still growing.

The animal is expensive to keep and could be lethal if mishandled - squeezing a human to death in minutes and swallowing them whole.

But IT worker Marcus, who now lives in Tewkesbury, is confident Hexxie will never strike - although doesn't handle her when the his sons, aged four and one, are nearby.

Experts say the biggest ever Burmese python was 18ft 8ins but Marcus think Hexxie is even bigger.

He says when he last measured his pet of eight years she was over 18ft - and has grown a lot since then.

But he's reluctant to anaesthetise her for the official measurement until she's stopped growing.

Marcus said: "I knew she would be big but she has shocked everybody by how much she has grown.

"I am very passionate about snakes and I try to help people understand them.

"I think people are so scared of them because they think they are going to kill them but if people come around I can talk to them all day long about snakes to reassure them.

"I would not get her out with the boys around. I would only do it while they were in bed or another room.

"I don't think she'd be dangerous towards them but you have to use your common sense and I'm a responsible pet owner.

"There is a possibility she's already a record breaker but finding out is not that easy."

Hexxie lives alongside another smaller snake, Monty, and the family dog Shiloh, a Husky.

Marcus said both snakes have gone for him before - although not for a while.

He added that the nearest Hexxie has come to attacking him was when he had to apply iodene to a skin infection.

He said: "She went for me. Not properly - more of a back off, get away type of thing. She's nipped but she's never latched on."

Under pet laws there is no requirement for a licence to keep non-poisonous snakes and Marcus is sceptical of tales of much smaller Burmese Pythons escaping or killing.

A ten-foot one has been blamed for the death of a zoo keeper in Caracas, Venezuela previously.

Marcus said: "A license would cost a lot of money and would not make any difference to people who are stupid or do not have any common sense.

"You couldn't lose Hexxie. If I opened that tank door I don't think she would even come out. She's happy there, that's her place."

Marcus paid £2,000 for the vivarium, £30 for each of the bulbs and the heating has to be constantly on full blast.

He said: "My family have always been into wildlife so I was always destined to get some sort of animal.

"But it's snakes that just fascinate me. I can watch them all day long.

"When I was living on my own, years ago before I had children, if there was a power cut, I would put them in the bed with me to keep them warm.

"I would wake up in the morning and they would still be there."