Two female Florida cops tackled a slippery customer after a man found an uninvited guest in his newly-delivered sofa in the form of a five-foot-long boa constrictor hiding under the cushions.

The Clearwater Police Department in the US state of Florida reported on 4th December that a man in the Marilyn Pines condominium complex called them about a snake in his new sofa.

Officers were dispatched to the complex, which is home to residents aged 55 and over, and found the boa hiding in the item of furniture.

The officers carried the sofa outside before they removed the reptile and then took the item of furniture back inside.

They proceeded to deliver the snake to a local pet shop, where two female officers who recovered the snake posed for snaps while holding the specimen.

The police department reported that the man had only just bought the sofa and believed the snake was already hiding in it when he took it home.

The boa constrictor, also known as the red-tailed boa or the common boa, is non-venomous and kills its prey by grabbing it with its teeth before constricting it until it can no longer breathe.

Once the prey is dead, the boa consumes it whole.

Boa constrictors are endemic to South America north of the 35th parallel but are often kept and bred in captivity further afield. An introduced population is known to thrive in southern Florida.

Adult specimens typically measure seven to 10 feet long in the case of females and six to eight feet long in the case of males. However, specimens can sometimes grow up to 13 feet in length.