Snake found with its head stuck inside an empty can of energy drink

A can of energy drink has been spotted slithering along a Tasmanian roadside.

The copperhead snake with its head stuck inside a drink can. Picture: REPTILE RESCUE INCORPORATED

A SNAKE has been rescued from a Tasmanian roadside with its head stuck inside an energy drink can.

Rescuers said the copperhead snake was spotted when someone saw a can of V moving slowly along South Arm Rd, South Arm.

“A motorbike rider noticed the can was moving on the side of the road off into the brush,” said Chris Daly, chair of Reptile Rescue Incorporated.

Mr Daly said he doubted the snake was actually trying to quench its thirst, or replenish its energy.

“It probably wasn’t going in there for the liquid, it’s more likely a frog or a skink was in the can and the snake was after that,” he said.

Reptile Rescue Incorporated chair Chris Daly. Picture: MATT THOMPSON

Mr Daly said the snake, which was spotted on Sunday, probably had not been stuck for too long because it was fine after it was cut free from the can.

“They are OK if you can get them out relatively quickly,” he said.

But he urged people against littering drink cans because they could prove a fatal attraction for snakes.

“It can knock them around a bit, especially if stuck for a while in the heat. It would be like having your head in a heater.

“There would be a lot that die that way.”

Mr Daly said the volunteer reptile rescue group went to the aid of three or four similar cases in Tasmania every year, although there would be more incidents that went unreported.

Snake activity had picked up around the state recently because of the run of warm weather, he said.

“We are getting about 20 to 25 calls from around the state every day now,” he said.

He said the organisation had 80 volunteers on standby ready to help people concerned about a snake.

Mr Daly said most snake activity was seen in the cooler parts of the morning or evening, because the middle of the day was now too hot for snakes.

He said Reptile Rescue Incorporated had a new phone number: 0499 116 690.

Bruce Press, from Reptile Rescue Tasmania, said the busiest day of the season so far was on Monday when there had been seven calls in the South of the state before 10am.

He said one of the snakes was spotted under a deck and another was in a cubby house that had been a child’s Christmas present.