Woman finds brown snake in Ugg boot

THIS is the traumatising situation that a resident in south Adelaide encountered when she went to put her Ugg boots on this morning.

Not what you want to see first thing in the morning ...

IT’S the stuff of nightmares. Your beloved Ugg boot being repurposed as a home for a brown snake.

Straya, etc.

This is the traumatising situation that a resident in Moana, south Adelaide, encountered when she

saw the tail of a brown snake disappearing into her footwear. She immediately called Snake Catchers Adelaide to come and evict the reptile.

“We got a call from a woman saying she had seen the tail of a snake going into an ugg boot,” snake catcher Ange Broadstock told Adelaide Advertiser.

“When we got there it was all snuggled up in the boot so we just popped the whole thing in the bag.”

A post on Snake Catchers Adelaide’s Facebook page.

The 1m-long snake has since been evicted from its fleecy home, but will stay with Snake Catchers Adelaide until warmer weather, when it will be released back into the wild.

The reptile was identified as an eastern brown snake — while they are known as the world’s second most venomous snake they are a shy breed, preferring to flee when encountering humans.

His appearance in the Ugg boot has been blamed on the shifting temperatures.

“What happens at this time of year when the weather goes from warm to cold so quickly is snakes get caught out,” Ms Broadstock said.

“When it’s warm they can’t wait to get out, but when it gets cold they lose their place.

“So they snuggle up somewhere warm as soon as they can.”

The eastern brown snake is listed as the second most venomous snake in the world.

Rolly Burrell, manager of Snake Catchers Adelaide, told the ABC that the company removed a snake from a shoe about once a year — last year from inside a rubber boot that had been hung upside down on a rack.

Ms Broadstock’s advice is for people to keep the number of a snake handler saved in their phone in the unlikely event they need it.

“If someone sees a snake in the their house they need to stay where they are and keep an eye on it,” Ms Broadstock said.

“That way it makes it much easier for the handler and also gives the person peace of mind when the snake is caught.”

Mr Burrell had some dire news for those with a fear of reptiles. He said it had been such a cold winter in Adelaide and “everything wants to come out”.

“They’ll all be pretty hungry at the moment after hibernating,” Burrell said.

“They’ve missed out on a month of roaming and mating.

“It’s nearly the end of September. Once we start getting some warm days, it’s going to go off with a bang.”