Family finds venomous snake curled up behind toaster

Making a slice of toast could have turned deadly for an Australian family.

Snake catcher Stuart McKenzie said the family called him to their Queensland home last week to trap a snake. But after an hour of searching, McKenzie never found the slithering critter.

Even so, the family called him back to the house on Feb. 26 after finding a snake curled up behind their toaster. McKenzie identified it as the venomous eastern brown snake.

“People say, ’No, venomous snakes can’t climb,‘” McKenzie said. “Well, I’ll tell you what, they certainly can. And that just sort of proves it.”

McKenzie’s first attempts to bag the snake stalled a bit while it was still tangled in the toaster’s cord. 

When that was no longer an obstacle, the snake still wasn’t ready to be captured. It lunged a few times as McKenzie picked up the bag.

He finally bagged the reptile with no without incident.

“Always gets the heart racing,” McKenzie said in relief. “That’s for sure.”

This story was reported from Atlanta.