A six-year-old animal-lover got a very nasty surprise when the creature he believed to be .A. ‘slow worm’ during a trip to the park ended up giving him a very nasty bite

“One of the kids got a picture of the snake, which was very handy. It was about 25cm long, it was tiny.”

Doctors quickly remedied Kenzie’s immediate problem, although he later had to return to hospital after suffering an after-effect known as “serum sickness.”

Andrea said: “It was just a delayed aftermath of the anti-venom. He’s absolutely fine now, we’re just keeping an eye on him.

“It was very scary [when we thought his organs were shutting down], I didn’t sleep for two days.

“It was just a constant hand-on-chest listening to his breathing and watching him the whole time.

“I was massively shocked by the effect of the bite. It could’ve been a lot worse, it’s a scary situation to be in.

“You don’t know how each person is going to react to it.

“I’m not going to stop him playing with his friends. He has no fear of snakes even now.”