Nuclear city in Siberia unveils designer snakes not seen in wild

The 108,000 residents will be able to see two colour variations of the Honduran milk snake - albino and tangerine - as well as two colour variations of the queen python, described as bumblebee and pastel.

The extraordinary animals will not be on show to visitors to Seversk, or at least not many.

Previously known as Tomsk-7, the city can only be visited by foreigners with approval from Russia's Atomic Energy Agency (Rosatom), a process which can take more than six weeks. 

The city is home to the Siberian Chemical Combine (SCC), one of the world's leading nuclear centres, founded in 1949.

Locals deny that the brightly coloured snakes are the product of nuclear tampering, however. 

They were created by 'selective breeding' and are not found in the wild. The snakes go on show to mark Chinese Year of the Water Snake in 2013.