Australian Mother Finds World's Second-most Venomous Snake In 3-year-old's Drawer

In a toddler’s knickers drawer, an Australian snake hunter found the second-most venomous snake in the world. Melbourne-based Mark Pelley was called in to take out a 5-foot brown Eastern Brown snake from a 3-year-old’s bedroom.

Pelley described the incident on Facebook, writing, “Mum went to get some clothes for her son and found a large five-foot eastern brown snake instead. We discovered what had transpired. Yesterday, while she was removing clothing off the clothesline, a brown snake slithered into the folded laundry that she had brought in. On Facebook, a few individuals questioned how they could have missed noticing the reptile.

While people raised questions about how the mother missed noticing the brown snake and carried it back to the knickers drawer, Mark explained that these snakes are relatively lightweight and can be pretty hard to notice. He defended the mother saying that these snakes weigh next to nothing and that this could have happened to anyone. He also said that he has had experiences where he encountered people carrying venomous snakes in their handbags and shopping bags without their knowledge.

Within the family Elapidae, the eastern brown snake, often known as the common brown snake, is a highly venomous species. The species is indigenous to southern New Guinea and eastern and central Australia. Aside from deep forests, the eastern brown snake can be found in most settings. However, because house mice are its primary prey, it is more common in farms and the edges of cities. Australian Geographic refers to these snakes as “highly aggressive, fast-moving and bad-tempered".

The head and neck of the eastern brown snake are not distinguished from one another. Its build ranges from thin to average. When seen from above, its snout has a rounded appearance. The majority of specimens are up to 1.5 m (4.9 ft) overall (including the tail), with a few giant ones growing up to 2 m (6.6 ft) in length. For the species, the longest reported total length is 2.4 m (7.9 ft). Research suggests that northern populations of snakes typically have larger snakes than southern populations.