Child narrowly escapes venomous snake in underwear drawer

An Australian mother's search of her child's underwear drawer turns perilous when she discovers a highly deadly venomous snake.

 Illustrative image of a snake. (photo credit: PXFUEL)
Illustrative image of a snake.
(photo credit: PXFUEL)

In a surprising turn of events, a snake catcher from Melbourne, Australia, was faced with an unexpected challenge when called to a residence to remove a highly venomous snake discovered in a three-year-old's underwear drawer. The snake, identified as an Eastern Brown snake, proved to be one of the world's deadliest creatures, ranking second in terms of venom potency.

"Mum went to get some clothes for her son and found a large 5-foot (1.5-meter) brown snake instead," recounted Mark Pelley, the snake catcher, in a Facebook post. "We figured out what happened. She carried in folded washing yesterday and as she was taking clothes from clothes line, brown snake crawled into it. Then without realizing, she put a bundle of folded clothes containing the world's 2nd most venomous snake into her son's drawers."

The post garnered astonished reactions from users, who questioned how such a sizable snake could go unnoticed amidst the clothing. One user pondered, how anyone could possibly overlook a such a massive snake when folding clothes.

The second most dangerous venomous snake in the world

Pelley clarified in a comment that snakes of this nature are incredibly lightweight and can easily evade detection. “The [snakes] weigh next to nothing and seriously - this can happen to anyone. I've seen people carry brown snakes in their handbag or otherwise shopping bags,” he said.

According to Australian Geographic magazine, Eastern Brown snakes are recognized as swift and aggressive creatures, notorious for their potent venom. They primarily inhabit the eastern and central regions of Australia, as well as southern New Guinea, with lengths reaching up to two meters.