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"This Is What Nightmares Are Made of"—Huge Snake Found Sleeping in Bed
Experts were called in to remove a huge brown snake from someone's bed in Kalbar, Australia.
It's a story that's liable to give you nightmares—or at least look under the covers before sliding into bed. Experts were called in to remove a huge brown snake from someone's bed in Kalbar, Australia, on Monday. The deadly Eastern Brown snake had slithered under the duvet, necessitating a call to Zachery's Snake and Reptile Relocation. "Check the bed carefully tonight!" the snake catcher wrote in a Facebook post. It was a close call: This breed of snake has one of the most toxic venoms in the world, and its bite can be fatal. Read on to find out more about the snake and how the capture went down.
According to 7 News.com.au, a female resident found the six-foot-long snake when she attempted to change her bedsheets. "The owner of the property went in to change the sheets and that's when she found it," said Zachery Richards from Zachery's Snake and Reptile Relocation. The woman was calm as she trapped the snake in the bedroom. Then she called the experts. "She just stepped back, shut the door, put a towel underneath and rang me."
In Richards's experience, finding snakes indoors isn't uncommon. He said his team "find a lot of snakes inside, but maybe not to the extent of the bed, especially an Eastern Brown," he said. "I have found other snakes in bed—common tree snakes and carpet pythons." He said the snake may have come inside to escape Australia's currently scorching summer temperatures. "Generally, on your really hot days they come inside to seek shelter from the heat," said Richards.
The capture went off without a hitch: The snake was fairly tame, although Richards told Newsweek it did get "a little cranky" when he moved the bed to catch it. "I pulled the towel out from underneath the door and opened up the door and it was just lying in bed having a snooze," he said. "When I disturbed it, it sort of slipped down underneath the bed." After maneuvering the snake into his bag with a hook, Richards released it into bushland, several miles away from people and homes.
Most Deadly Snake in Australia
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The snake catcher posted skin-crawling photos of the six-footer chilling out on the bed, half in and half out of the covers. "Check the bed carefully tonight! This eastern brown snake safely relocated!" wrote Richards. Eastern Brown snakes cause more snakebite fatalities than any other species in Australia. According to the University of Melbourne's Australian Venom Research Unit, they have the world's second-most toxic venom. It contains a neurotoxin that shuts down the heart, diaphragm and lungs, causing suffocation.
Social Media Reacts
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Online commenters were thoroughly creeped out by the photos of the reposing snake. "This is what nightmares are made of," one commenter wrote. "I'll be sleeping on the couch tonight," said one woman. "Well I'm never sleeping again!!" declared another.
