I had to care for a variety of non-venomous snakes for many years when I worked in a museum. I must admit that, while I think snakes are beautiful, tortoises have much more personality and even almost come when you call. Tortoises also live a long time which means you definitely get your money’s worth.
However, snakes are fascinating creatures and I definitely identify with Larsen’s cartoon where the snake mom is telling her son to help Grampa eat by wiggling Grampa’s rat (having cared for several geriatric snakes). Also, once we started feeding with “mousicles” (frozen mice) we had fun teasing the other staff members about warming them for the snakes by using the linch room microwave (we actually immersed them while encased in a waterproof bag in hot water from the tap).
In any case, call the RSPCA, or even that pet store you say is near you. Some color varieties of corn snakes are quite valuable and they may be eager to get it back.
And come back and tell us what it is.