A construction worker got a slippery surprise when he found a deadly snake in his boot on Friday morning.
The man went into “panic mode” before calling Gunter Glaser of Darling Downs Snake Catchers.
“As he was about to pick the boot up, he saw it,” Glaser told Newsweek.
The boots had been left out on the veranda at a house in Hodgson Vale, in the Toowoomba region of Queensland, Australia. “[The snake] wasn’t noticed coming up onto the veranda and into the boot in the warmer part of the previous day,” Glaser said. “The construction worker only noticed it when he went to put the boots on in the morning to go to work.”
The eastern brown snake was about 4 feet long, which is about average for this species, according to the Australian Museum. “If it was a small snake, it would not have been noticed till a foot went in,” Glaser said.
Eastern brown snakes are found throughout eastern and southern Australia. In fact, their natural habitat also overlaps with some of the most populated areas in the country, so it is not uncommon to find them in people’s homes and gardens.
The species is highly venomous and is responsible for 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, containing a neurotoxin that shuts down the victim’s heart, diaphragm and lungs, causing them to suffocate.
Luckily, like most snakes, the eastern brown will only bite if it feels threatened, so if you leave them alone you are unlikely to be in any danger.
This particular snake likely ended up inside the man’s shoe while looking for a place to hide itself overnight.
According to Glaser, it is not that uncommon to find a snake in your shoe. “Most snake catchers come across it at least once a year,” he said.
These incidents are not restricted to Australia: in May, a man in Cherokee County, Georgia, found a highly venomous copperhead slithering out of his shoe in his garage.
Anything left on the floor could provide a cozy shelter for a snake. “I often get called to schools to remove snakes,” Glaser said. “I cringe when I see the students’ bags on the floor on the veranda and most of them open. There are racks to put the bags on, but many of the kids don’t use them. They could potentially pick their bag up and take a snake home and not know it.”
When it comes to footwear, Glaser has one piece of advice: “Don’t leave shoes outside.”
