A family has captured the moment a snake furiously swam up to their boat and slithered onboard, forcing them to leap into the air and on top of seats to make way for their new guest.
Shannon Stych was enjoying a sunny day with her friends and family on a popular lake on Monday when the group suddenly saw something moving in the water. Video footage that has since gone viral shows the snake sliding quickly on top of the water, heading straight for their boat.
Multiple shrieking people can be seen darting out of the way as the serpent slides onto the vessel’s stern, eager to join the party. The clip ends with a man standing on a seat while trying to prod the snake back into the lake with a fishing rod — with his other hand firmly grasping a beer.
The entertaining encounter occurred on Memorial Day on Lake Pleasant in the US state of Arizona, according to local publications who shared the footage on Facebook.
‘Wish we wouldn’t have seen it’
Ms Stych also posted a photo of the snake — deemed by many online to be a non-venomous native gopher snake — on her Instagram alongside the hashtags #snakeinaboat and #determinedtojointhefun.
One of her friends said she had the same experience at Lake Pleasant while wake boarding. “I guess we looked like a fun crowd and he didn’t wanna miss the boat!” another woman commented, to which Ms Stych replied: “Wish we wouldn’t have seen it.”
Snake video goes viral
The video has been viewed almost 600,000 times, attracting tens of thousands of horrified responses. “That is terrifying!” one person said, while several others simply proclaimed: “Oh hell no!”
“I think it’s funny how they all climbed on the seats like as if the snake can’t climb the seats like he just climbed onto a whole boat lol,” one woman pointed out.
A ranger jumped into the comments on Arizona Family’s Facebook post to confirm the incredibly friendly snake is indeed a gopher snake, and added a photo of one hanging around his neck.
“They’re pretty tolerant to handling for the most part,” he said. “Calm down, it’s just trying to hitch a ride back to shore. They’re actually very friendly,” another person chimed in.
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