An Australian snake hunter discovered the second-most venomous snake in the world in a toddler’s underwear drawer.
Mark Pelley, based in Melbourne, was asked to remove a 5-foot Eastern brown snake from a 3-year-old’s bedroom.
“Mum went to get some clothes for her son and found a large five-foot brown snake instead,” Pelley wrote of the ordeal on Facebook.
“We figured out what happened. She carried in folded washing yesterday and as she was taking clothes from [the] clothes line, [the] brown snake crawled into it.”
Some people on Facebook asked how it was possible not to notice the reptile.
“How could you put folded clothes with a 5 foot snake amongst them into drawers without realizing? I mean a 5ft brown would have some weight to it correct?” asked Linda Swanwick in the post’s comments section.
Pelley replied that the creatures are actually lightweight, and people tend to be oblivious to them.
“They weigh next to nothing and seriously — this can happen to anyone,” he explained.
“I’ve seen people carry brown snakes in their handbag or otherwise shopping bags. One day this could happen to you.”
Eastern brown snakes, which are “fast-moving, aggressive and known for their bad temper,” according to Australian Geographic, are native to eastern and central Australia as well as southern New Guinea, and can grow up to 7 feet in length.
