One of the world's most venomous snakes found hiding in boy's underwear drawer

A family in Australia received an unwelcome home visitor last week: an eastern brown snake, one of the most dangerous serpents in the world. The highly venomous snake was found curled up in the underwear drawer of a 3-year-old boy, as shown in a rattling social media video shared by a pest control specialist known to his clients as "The Snake Hunter."

The snake hunter's real name is Mark Pelley, according to the website advertising his wrangling and consulting services. Based in Melbourne along the southeastern Australian coast, Pelley's business mainly focuses on removing venomous snakes from people's private properties, in addition to training dogs on how to avoid such creatures.

Pelley said he was called to collect that eastern brown snake from the toddler's clothing drawer on Jan. 8. He filmed part of the encounter and posted the footage in a Facebook reel that sees him opening the drawer to discover the reptile lurking in its back corner, while a woman's voice asked from offscreen, "How could he have got in?"

After removing the drawer, Pelley turns his camera to the empty dresser cube where it once was, and where by then the snake could be seen pressed against its perimeter.

"Oh, there he is!," Pelley said. "A brown snake in an underwear drawer. That's not something you see every day. That's impressive, isn't it?"

In a caption shared alongside the reel, the snake hunter said the snake likely crawled into a pile of laundry and entered the home when the boy's mother took the clothing in from a line outside. The creature probably hid among the laundry as she put it away in her son's drawers.

"If you see a brown snake in the top drawer, call the Snake Hunter," the caption read.

Eastern brown snakes are found throughout eastern Australia and in isolated populations in central and western parts of the country, as well as in southern and eastern New Guinea. They are "fast-moving, aggressive and known for their bad temper," according to Australian Geographic, which ranks it as the most dangerous snake in the country.

They are medium-sized, slender snakes that are notably resilient, extremely toxic and comfortable living among humans in both rural and dense urban areas.

"The venom contains powerful presynaptic neurotoxins, procoagulants, cardiotoxins and nephrotoxins, and successful envenomation can result in progressive paralysis and uncontrollable bleeding. Occasional fatalities have occurred as a result of bleeding into the brain due to coagulation disturbances," the Australian Museum writes, noting that the eastern brown snake "has the unfortunate distinction of causing more deaths from snake bite than any other species of snake in Australia."

This isn't the first time the highly venomous snake has been discovered inside furniture in Australia. In 2022, a woman found a venomous brown snake hiding in her antique radiogram cabinet.

In:
• Australia
• Snake

Emily Mae Czachor

Emily Mae Czachor is a reporter and news editor at CBSNews.com. She covers breaking news, often focusing on crime and extreme weather. Emily Mae has previously written for outlets including the Los Angeles Times, BuzzFeed and Newsweek.

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