Daniel Radcliffe wasn't allowed to leave a movie set until he found a lost exotic snake.

The 24-year-old actor had to track down the slippery serpent on the set of his new thriller 'Horns' - in which he portrays Ig Perrish, a man who wakes up after a drunken night with two horns on his head - after one of the 100 snakes being used went AWOL, but following a 30-minute search he discovered the rebellious reptile.

He said: ''It was quite tense. We were bringing exotic snakes into Canada and letting them all loose. We had 100 snakes and we had to leave with 100.

''We were filming in a place with so many nooks and crannies for snakes to get away that we spent about half an hour after we finished filming that night looking for the last snake ... It had hidden itself under the fire to stay warm!''

Despite the inconvenience, Daniel - who shot to fame portraying the titular wizard in the 'Harry Potter' film series - insists the reptiles are the best props he has ever worked with on a movie.

He added to Total Film magazine: ''I actually loved snakes in the end. For the last third of the movie I have a 6ft python wrapped around me - which is the greatest prop any actor has ever had.''