Snake Catcher Films Encounter with Venomous Red Belly: 'Closest Call'

A snake catcher in Australia had a close call on Friday when he was removing a deadly snake from a family garden, coming a hair's breadth away from being bitten.

Stuart McKenzie, who runs the Sunshine Coast Snake Catchers 24/7 Facebook page, went to catch the snake after the residents of the house in Twin Waters, on Queensland's Sunshine Coast, called him in.

McKenzie uploaded a video of the encounter on March 25, showing how the snake lunged for his hand as he picked it up.

"Red Belly Head Butts My Fingers!" he wrote in the caption of the video, which also shows him on two other snake calls to rescue another smaller red belly and a carpet python. "Well that was the closest call I have had in a while! Its been a hectic week and in the heat of it all yesterday, I nearly copped a bite from a small Red Belly!"

Red bellies, or the red-bellied black snake, are native to Australia, and are a different species to the red-bellied snake found across the U.S.

Australian red bellies are named for their dull red underbellies. They usually grow to lengths of around 4 feet long, but in rare cases have been found up to 6 or even 8 feet long. This species is one of the most commonly encountered snakes in eastern Australia, and are usually found close to water bodies like streams, swamps and lagoons in the wilderness, or drainage canals and dams in human populated areas.

Cold-blooded like most reptiles, these snakes bask in the sun to maintain a body temperature between 28 to 31 C [82.4 to 87.8 F], and can also stay submerged beneath water for over 20 minutes if threatened by a predator.

The video shows McKenzie using a hook to lift the snake and grabbing its tail at the same time, when the snake twists upwards and lunges for his hand.

These snakes will usually only attempt to bite a human if feeling threatened, injecting their dangerous venom into the skin, with 16 percent of identified snakebite victims in Australia between 2005 and 2015 having been bitten by a red-bellied black snake. Their venom contains myotoxins and neurotoxins that disable muscles and nerves, as well as anticoagulants, causing the victim to bleed excessively.

The murine median lethal dose (LD50), which is the amount of venom per kg required to kill 50 percent of mice that have been administered the venom, is 2.52 mg/kg. Usually, the snake only delivers around 37 mg of venom in each bite, with a record of 94 mg having ever been recorded.

If bitten, a victim may experience bleeding and/or swelling at the bite site, leading to possible necrosis if the bite is on an extremity, nausea, vomiting, headache, abdominal pain, diarrhea, sweating and muscle pain and weakness.

Despite these symptoms, very few have ever been recorded to have killed a victim, with the only reports of a death dating back a long time, with the snake's species often being unconfirmed, the Australian Museum said. Many bite victims experience only mild or negligible symptoms, however, a number also end up hospitalized. This is why, for its size, the red-bellied black snake is considered one of the least dangerous elapid snakes in Australia.

The lucky snake in the video was safely released into the wild, and McKenzie was unharmed.

"This cheeky little thing headbutted my finger! Closest call I've had in a little while," McKenzie said in the video as he released the red belly into the wild. "Off you go Mr. Cheeky."

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