Woman Shares Terrifying Encounter With Venomous Snake in Car

A woman was startled this week when she discovered a snake hiding in her car.

Shelley Bridge, who is from Adelaide, Australia, was about to leave her home when the slithery stowaway suddenly moved past her fingers.

"I swore a bit and then yelled," Bridge told Newsweek. "My girls came out to see what was happening."

Immediately, she jumped out of the car, slammed the door, and screamed as the snake went back into hiding behind the dashboard.

The snake was a red-bellied black snake, a species of venomous snake indigenous to Australia.

The Australian museum says that these medium-sized snakes are one of the most frequently encountered snakes on the east coast of Australia.

Their bite is venomous, but not deadly. The museum says: "They are a shy snake and will generally only deliver a serious bite under severe molestation. When approached in the wild a red-bellied black snake will often freeze to avoid detection, and people may unknowingly get quite close before registering the snake's presence."

This was certainly true for Shelley, who then discovered that the snake had likely been taking a free ride in her car for about two weeks, long enough to shed its skin.

"I called Pete the snake catcher," said Bridge. "He came over but we couldn't find it, just its shed skin in my boot. He then devised a plan of locking up the car and waiting until it came out for some sun. It had been in there for a couple of weeks we think."

Eventually, snake catcher, Pete Best managed to get hold of the snake that had moved between the dashboard and the air vents of the car.

The Australian Snakebite Project, 2005–2015 reported that around 3,000 snakebites occur each year in Australia. While a PLOS Medicine study reported that only around 13 percent of snakebites will require antivenom treatment. Thankfully, Australian snakebite deaths are also low and rarely surpass two a year.

Venomous snakes found in the U.S. include rattlesnakes, copperheads, cottonmouths or water moccasins, and coral snakes, and injury numbers are higher in the U.S. than in Australia. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that in the U.S. around 8,000 people are bitten by venomous snakes each year, and around five of those people will die.

The CDC recommends that anyone who has suffered a snake bit should seek medical attention as soon as possible, either by dialing 911 or contacting local Emergency Medical Services (EMS).

"The snake catcher was great," said a very relieved Shelley, who is now planning to give her car a thorough clear-out before her next drive.