One of the deadliest snakes in the world has been found hiding inside a rat-infested air conditioning unit.
Stuart Mckenzie, the snake catcher tasked with tracking it down and capturing it, posted video footage of the encounter online describing it as "a little bit sketchy." The video was shot in in Queensland, Australia.
A bite from an eastern brown snake can be fatal, and the species is responsible for more human fatalities than any other snake in Australia.
Mckenzie has a look of concern on his face as he searches an AC unit, which a local man saw the snake disappear under, and pulls it apart in an effort to find the serpent.
"That is insane," he says, as he eventually uncovers a snake between four and five feet long under the lid of the AC. "Oh man, brown snakes eh," he says.
It then darts to the bottom of the unit in an effort to evade Mckenzie, who manages to hook it out, holding it at arm's length by its tail as it flails around, at one point lunging at him, a common behavior when they feel cornered or threatened.
With some difficulty, the snake catcher manages to transfer the animal into a snake bag, though such was his concern with not being bitten by the snake that he initially hadn't realized that the bag was trapped under one of his feet.
"It just shows they can go anywhere. It went all the way to the top of this aircon in the end," he says in the video.
"There was a rats' nest in there so it was going in and out and smelling the rodents. It disappeared for a second and when I lifted it up, it's sitting right at the top of this.
"It's crazy where they can get into."
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The Australian Museum describes eastern brown snakes as "an alert, nervous species" that can react defensively by "putting on a fierce display and striking with little hesitation" if they're threatened or surprised.
However, if they're approached by a potential threat from a distance, they'll either flee or stay still, hoping to evade detection.
A bite from an eastern brown snake can cause "progressive paralysis and uncontrollable bleeding," it says, including "bleeding into the brain due to coagulation disturbances."
Sunshine Coast Snake Catchers 24/7, the Queensland-based snake removal and relocation company that Mckenzie works for, says that eastern brown snakes are "commonly seen cruising through backyards" and that they "often" enter homes through gaps and crevices, such as open doors or garages.
