Snakes Are Hiding In Groceries, See The Video
Do you check your lettuce for snakes? One family discovered why you might want to.
This article is more than 2 years old
Most people have been told to wash their lettuce before they eat it. A great number of people don’t stick to this general rule of wisdom. A new story from an Australian couple involving a venomous snake may encourage people to be a bit more careful about this one.
As reported by The Guardian, a couple in Sydney, Australia bought their lettuce from their local Aldi supermarket. In many places, it’s customary to need to put a coin into a machine as a deposit before you can use a shopping cart. They didn’t have one that day, so they picked up their few items and held them in their hands. They left the grocery store and made the ten-minute bicycle ride home. As they were putting their items away in their kitchen, they noticed something moving in the lettuce bag. Not wanting to jump to conclusions, they hoped the little wiggling thing was a worm, but then its tongue stuck out and there was no mistaking it. There was a snake in their lettuce.
They got in touch with wildlife officials, who at first thought the couple had an incredibly deadly baby eastern brown snake on their hands. These snakes are cute and sometimes people take fun photos with them since they’re so small. They’re also one of the most aggressive and venomous snakes Australia has around. However, the couple got to work recording pictures and videos for the wildlife association. You can watch a 45-second clip they shared below.
It turned out the family had a hoplocephalus bitorquatus, also known as a pale-headed snake. The experts informed the family that the snake was “medically significant”. While that may sound like it holds the secret to curing cancer, the term actually means that if the snake were to bite you, you would experience medically significant after-effects. This means they would need to get to the emergency room as soon as possible. While the snake was a dangerous one, fortunately, no one has yet died in Australia from this particular type of snake. Typically, the effects have included headaches, pain, and bleeding.
The family put the snake in a container but worked to make sure it could still breathe. Later that evening, officials came to collect the creature and return it to its home in the wilderness. All’s well that ends well for the family, who said they felt the lesson in all of this was always to make sure you washed your lettuce before eating it, wish they have been neglectful about in the past.
One member of the family decided to do just that. They washed off the lettuce they had originally found the snake in and then made themselves a lettuce wrap.
The family was very calm while sharing their story of finding a venomous snake in their lettuce. Often, people panic when they see regular ones that aren’t dangerous, let alone dangerous creatures in their lettuce. The family staying so calm likely helped them make the right decisions for dealing with the wildlife.
