Who dropped off the snake at daycare?! In what could have easily been a bad situation, a very large and very venomous snake lurked at a busy childcare center in Australia. Fortunately, the daycare called in professionals.
Rather than keeping his distance, the professional snake catcher handled the reptile with just his bare hands and a bag. He was an employee at Sunshine Coast Snake Catchers. Employees quickly called the organization after seeing the reptile.
Check out the wild Facebook video below.
The worker found the red-bellied black reptile curled up underneath some plastic tiles on the playground. It was around four feet long.
"Hence why we're here, 'cause obviously, it's not a great spot for the red-bellied," he explains in the clip. "I'm sure the red-bellied's happy, but I mean, being around the kids."
Snake Found At Daycare
The wrangler attempted to grab the reptile from behind the tiles as it attempted to move away. "He's on to me now," he said. He was searching for the snake's head. The professional used his bare hands to pick up the reptile, grabbing it by the tail and then dropping it in the bag.
"You can hear the kids in the background," the catcher said. "Quite a crazy spot."
From there, the wrangler took the reptile to a wooded area and released it back into the forest. One person commented about the wrangler's expertise.
"This is right outside my boys' room, where they play all the time," she commented. "Fabulous centre and excellent educators - they're always doing snake checks (I'm paranoid about snakes so asked a ton of questions about it early) and they turned this into an educational piece which my boys brought home telling me what they need to do if they see a snake."
"Well done amazing team ??? ?????," she added.
Red-bellied black snakes can cause a host of symptoms such as vomiting, abdominal pain, and headache.
"They are a shy snake and will generally only deliver a serious bite under severe molestation," the Australian Museum.
"For its size, the species is "probably the least dangerous elapid snake in Australia," the museum notes. "Despite the number of bites received every year, very few human deaths have resulted," it states, noting that health risks to both children and pets are more significant because of their size.