This is probably not expected in Australia, home of many poisonous snakes: a man in Melbourne was recently surprised by a poisonous snake when opening a drawer.
What a shock it must have been when a Melbourne man recently suffered a surprise of the toxic kind. When he opened a desk drawer in his home’s study, he discovered a brown snake that had made itself comfortable among letters and notes. The drawer was quickly closed again and snake professional Mark Pelley was notified.
You can find even more exciting animal topics in the free partner newsletter from Landtiere.de, which you can subscribe to here.
Australia is known for its biodiversity, so spiders can sometimes sit on the toilet.
“Never seen it in my life” – Venomous snake waiting in drawer
The “Snake Hunter” shared a video of the incident on his Facebook-Page and said in it: “I’ve never seen that in my life. I can hardly believe my eyes – a brown snake in a drawer!” The video also shows how the venomous snake seems to feel quite comfortable in a free corner of the drawer.
Snake in a drawer – how did it get there?
Even if it is not uncommon in Australia for snakes or spiders to get lost in the house – it is rather rare in such a place. After some deliberation, Pelley and the homeowners theorized that the snake must have snuck into the drawer from a nearby bookshelf after it was left open. The wife only saw the open drawer and closed it: the snake was (unintentionally) trapped. Her husband then wanted to put something in, opened the drawer again, only to quickly close it again when he saw the snake.
“Snakes like to hide,” Mark Pelley told the online magazine Newsweek. Sometimes in the sofa, in ceilings or even in toilets. And luckily, the two Melbourne natives reacted prudently and quickly. Because brown snakes have one of the most potent venoms in the snake kingdom and are the reason for many deaths and emergency operations in Australia.
Finding a snake in a drawer – the network discusses it
Although brown snakes are extremely venomous, in most cases they will flee rather than attack. Even the animal in the video doesn’t really seem to be bothered by the drawer being pushed open and closed again. Pelley applauds the residents’ response. Instead of attempting to remove the snake themselves, they did the right thing and contacted a professional.
Various people are discussing it online Facebook-Users below the video how they would have reacted in a similar situation:
- “OMG, slippery little worm. These people will be careful when opening drawers in the future 😱.”
- “That would have been a nasty paper cut… 😏”
- “I’ll call the snake pro when I’m done screaming if I see a snake in one of my drawers 🥴.”
- “OMG 😳 Thank the universe for people like Mark.”
- “The snake actually seems quite content…”
Incidentally, after filming the video, the snake expert caught the reptile and released it in a suitable – and for other people not dangerous – place into freedom.
