Video Shows Massive Deadly Snake Slither Under Sitting Woman’s Legs

A video posted to Instagram on Saturday showed how a snake catcher calmly sat still on the ground as a huge eastern brown venomous snake slithered under her legs while she was smoking.

The incident, which happened in Queensland, Australia, was filmed and posted online for educational purposes in case people find themselves in a similar situation, according to Brisbane Times.

Ayla Manson, who works for Harrison’s Gold Coast and Brisbane Snake Catcher, said the incident happened Friday. The snake was initially removed from under a fridge at a Tamborine home and released into a bush before it slithered under Manson’s legs.

“We already knew the personality of the snake was chill that day. I knew in that moment, the safest thing was to stay still. Had I panicked and gotten up, it would have tried to defend itself and I would have been at risk of a bite. Being the second most venomous snake on the planet, you do worry in the moment that you’re facing a bite,” Manson said, according to Brisbane Times.

Manson explained that snakes attack based on how an individual reacts, saying that they are not “aggressive species that go and attack.” She added that professionals can entirely understand venomous snakes.

“The approach should always be don’t move and stay calm, because if we move too fast, we might scare it and face a bite,” she said about how people should react if faced with a similar situation that she was in.

Last month, a massive snake curled across the front of the bonnet of a car that was in a McDonald’s drive-thru in New South Wales’ Hunter region in Australia. The driver was unaware that the snake was clung to the car until one customer brought their attention to it. The driver suspected that the snake was on the car for approximately four hours.

While it is not uncommon for snakes to appear in places where people are more present in Australia, they are encountered by humans more during the springtime—when male snakes are searching for a mate, and summer when temperatures are more suitable for ectotherms, according to Christina N. Zdenek, a postdoctoral fellow at the Venom Evolution Lab at The University of Queensland.

“In a ‘boom’ season, wildlife populations grow, including snakes. And new snakes in a system must find territories or hunting areas, so they may have to branch out to find something suitable. This may be why they sometimes end up in houses. However, snakes are vulnerable creatures that prefer to hide most of the time,” Zdenek told Newsweek on Sunday.

She added: “Naturally, they do so in rock piles, soil cracks, in tree hollows, and in and under logs. In suburban areas, these natural shelter site features are often absent, making the snake settle for unusual hiding places, like under a car bonnet or in a printer. By default, snakes are cowards, and that’s because it’s a dangerous world if you’re a snake. We just haven’t left many natural places for them to hide in suburbia, so they adapt and make do with what’s available.”

Zdenek recommended that individuals learn some basics about snakes in case they encounter one in an indoor setting. This includes knowing how to distinguish between a non-venomous python and a venomous snake from a safe distance. She suggested navigating resources such as reptile guide books, iNaturalist, the Snakes of Australia app, and Facebook pages to help a person raise their self-awareness about the reptile.

“For venomous snakes that need removing from indoor areas, the safest approach is to enlist the services of a professional trained in snake ID and snake handling: snake-catchers…over the phone they’ll walk you through what to do until they arrive,” said Zdenek.