Newcastle woman Lisa Kournelis has been driving around with a deadly snake in her car for about six weeks. It's not unheard of for snakes to make their way into vehicles, but it is highly unusual for them to linger so long. So why is this one still there?
I was like, “just grab it and toss it out, why is this news?”
Then I realized the article is about Australia, and said article confirms that it’s highly venomous.
This is why it is that, even though Australia’s climate would probably agree with me, their wildlife would not. I’d just be like, “well, it’s not rattling (rattlesnake), isn’t giving me a open-mouthed threat display or around water (cottonmouth) and doesn’t have colored bands (potentially coral snake), I’ll just grab it and toss it out.” Same thing with spiders and insects.
Note: apparently the mnemonic device, “red on black, friendly jack, red on yellow, kill a fellow” isn’t universal, even in areas where coral snakes live. That’s why I specified banded instead of “red on yellow bands”. At the same time though, you could probably put on some work gloves and be fine. Iirc they have small mouths, small fangs, and a weak bite strength so supposedly it’s very hard to get envenomed by one, even with bare hands.
They’re common, but not deadly. We have other common snakes that you definitely would not continue using the car with.
Still kind of applies, since tigers and taipans can come in black and yellow and are way worse. But in general, if a snake here is on the ground and plain looking, you stay the fuck away. Especially if black, brown, sandy, or ivory. All our venomous spiders and snakes live and hunt on ground-level so they don’t have much (if at all) in leafy/contrasty camoflauge markings.
Red belly black is just a timid snake, that’s what makes it not so deadly. The venom is still fucked
Next up on Mythbusters!