Usually it snakes that kill mice, but in a turn-up for the books, the
smell of a mouse almost lured one highly venomous western brown snake to
its death in Australia's Northern Territory.
Rex Neindorf from the Alice Springs Reptile Centre said his group got a call on Friday to alert them that a snake was in a home.
When snake handler Nadia Rosen arrived, she learned the ravenous reptile had trapped its head in a reusable mouse trap.
"It wasn't happy, the poor thing," Ms Rosen said. "I was quite surprised that it wasn't hurt at all." She said it was a delicate operation to get the mouse trap off the 90-centimetre-long snake, which involved using tongs to free it once it had been taken back to the Reptile Center.
Mr Neindorf said the snake had probably been attracted to the smell of mice that had run across the trap in the past, even though there was not a mouse in the device when the snake became trapped. Western browns are among the world's most venomous snakes and there is enough venom in their bite to kill six adults, Mr Neindorf said. The freed snake will be kept at the Reptile Center to ensure it is healthy, before being released back into the wild.
"It wasn't happy, the poor thing," Ms Rosen said. "I was quite surprised that it wasn't hurt at all." She said it was a delicate operation to get the mouse trap off the 90-centimetre-long snake, which involved using tongs to free it once it had been taken back to the Reptile Center.
Mr Neindorf said the snake had probably been attracted to the smell of mice that had run across the trap in the past, even though there was not a mouse in the device when the snake became trapped. Western browns are among the world's most venomous snakes and there is enough venom in their bite to kill six adults, Mr Neindorf said. The freed snake will be kept at the Reptile Center to ensure it is healthy, before being released back into the wild.
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