Snakes catchers in Queensland, Australia, were called to a home where a family had spotted a brown-colored snake lurking in their child's toy box.
Upon investigating the box and shifting toys to one side, the family's worst fears were confirmed when the reptile turned out to be an eastern brown snake, considered to be the second deadliest snake in the world.
Sunshine Coast Snake Catchers 24/7 uploaded a video of the call out to their Facebook page.
They wrote: "Justin headed out to a home recently where they had seen a brown-colored snake in the kid's toy box.
"When Justin arrived he chose to move the toys around with his hook and it's lucky he did... Underneath the kid's toys was a two-foot Eastern Brown Snake!"
In the video, the animal rescue operation's team member Justin Cotterill flinches as the snake lunges for him. He comments after the attempted attack: "He isn't keen to see me."
That wasn't it for the team though. The video shows after being called to remove a harmless Keelback in a family's pantry, they were once again called to remove another deadly eastern brown snake. This time the reptile was hanging out in a family's window louvers.
Safaris Africana ranks the eastern brown snake as the second deadliest snake in the world just behind the Inland Taipan, found in central east Australia.
Though "brown" forms part of its name, the medium-sized snake can also be found in a range of colors from pale brown to black, with a yellow underbelly.
The Australian Museum says that the snake accounts for the most human deaths from snake bites in Australia.
This could be because the bite of an eastern brown snake often goes unnoticed by its human victim as a result of the fact that the reptile has short fangs, often smaller than one-tenth of an inch. This means that its bite can be painless, at least initially.
In addition to short fangs, an eastern brown snake's bite often delivers just a tiny amount of venom, around four milligrams, to its victims.
But, according to the Australian Museum, what this reptile's fangs lack in length and what its venom lacks in volume, is more than made up for by the potency. Within the venom of the eastern brown snake are powerful presynaptic neurotoxins, procoagulants, cardiotoxins, and nephrotoxins.
This means that a human who is successfully envenomated by the bite of an eastern brown snake and these toxins can find themselves experiencing progressive paralysis and uncontrollable bleeding.
The toxins can also cause coagulation disturbances in the victim's body that can result in bleeding into the brain which ultimately leads to a fatal outcome.
As a result of this, the Australian Museum advises that any suspected eastern brown snake bite should be treated as a medical emergency.
Because the snakes thrives in areas of human disturbance, and its natural range happens to include some of the most populated parts of Australia, it is one of the most commonly encountered snakes in the country. A started eastern brown snake will often react defensively, putting on a fierce display and striking with little hesitation.
This is something that likely leads to the high number of human fatalities associated with it.
Many bites from eastern brown snakes, the Australian Museum points out, have been the direct result of people attempting to kill these snakes, something that should be avoided.
It suggests simple precautions, such as wearing long pants, thick socks, and solid footwear when working or exploring outdoors can greatly reduce the risk of being envenomated for a person who should experience a close encounter with a startled eastern brown snake.
