TWO old dear pythons which have been together for around 15 years have finally bred.

Owner Noel Wills had only popped out to the shops for an hour but when he got back to his home in Badgers Mount, he discovered there were seven eggs in the Royal Pythons’ tank.

Mr Wills, a part-time teacher at Bromley Adult Education College in Nightingale Lane, said: “I just went out shopping and came back and there were all these eggs, it was quite a shock.

“I’ve borrowed an incubator for them but I’m not sure anything will come of it.

“It’s very difficult to get the right conditions. You need to have a high humidity and a temperature of around 85 degrees Fahrenheit.

“If any do hatch I’ll have to find a very good home for them.”

The grandfather-of-two has had the 32-year-old male snake, Boa Diddley, since 1980 and his female partner Bill Boa, which is of similar age, since 1995.

Mr Wills, 64, said: “They are getting quite ancient. It’s estimated they live for about 28 years so they are a bit past their sell-by-date.”

The four-foot long west African pythons, also known as ball pythons, are not poisonous and pose no danger to humans.

They kill their prey by constricting and are fed on a weekly diet of frozen mice and rats.

Mr Wills said: “I’ve always been fascinated by reptiles.

“These two are absolutely beautiful-looking, I just find them endlessly interesting.”

He added: “I used to hold them quite a lot. My daughter used to play with the male in her youth.

“It used to slither up one sleeve and out of the other.”

The snakes are only likely to bite when they are shedding their skin, although Mr Wills describes the sensation as nothing more than “a pin prick”.