A woman in Australia found a deadly 3-foot tiger snake hiding in her Christmas tree over the weekend.
The venomous reptile was remarkably well camouflaged and could easily have been mistaken for tinsel.
The woman, who was identified only as Cheryl, called Barry Goldsmith (a.k.a. Snake Catcher Victoria) to her suburban Melbourne home on Sunday morning. He successfully trapped the serpent and later released it back into the wild.
”She didn’t panic,” Goldsmith said on Facebook. “She just took a photo and sent it to the snake catcher, me, and 20 minutes later I had the little bugger in a bag. Ho Ho Ho.”
While tiger snakes have a fearsome reputation, Goldsmith told The Huffington Post that catching the unwanted home intruder was “just another day in the office for me.”
“Snakes show up in many strange places, like bird cages, bookcases, in boots and in toilets,” he said, although this was the first time he’d removed one from a Christmas tree.
Despite their deadly bite, tiger snakes are a protected species in many Australian states.
“They’re probably in the top 10 most toxic animals on the planet,” he told Mashable. “But they’re not dangerous unless you poke it with a stick or grab it by the tail or try to kill it.”
