Posted on 12/20/2012 12:04:44 AM PST by nickcarraway
A Townsville toddler has incubated a nest of one of the world's most deadly species of snake - in his bedroom closet.
Kyle Cumming, 3, found the snake eggs several weeks ago while playing in his backyard and put them in his wardrobe, according to media reports.
On Monday, the boy's mother discovered seven squirming baby snakes inside a takeaway container she had given him after he found the eggs.
Eastern brown snakes are second only to the inland taipan as the most venomous snakes on Earth, and are responsible for most lethal snake bites in Australia.
Queensland Museum information officer and snake expert Steve Wilson said despite the age of the snakes, if Kyle had been bitten the result could have been deadly.
"Any venomous snake, as soon as it hatches, has all the apparatus to deliver venom because the first thing they have to do is catch and kill prey - it's a perfect replica of an adult snake," he said.
"Brown snakes are highly venomous and a baby brown could potentially kill or at least seriously harm a human being - adult or child.
"If he had played around with them, which a little boy would, there's a chance they would have bitten him and there's a real chance that he may have been very seriously harmed or killed by them."
'Very lucky'
Mr Wilson urged the need to instil in children that snakes of any sort are never to be touched.
"You've got to impress on children to steer clear of any handling of any snakes or snake-like animals, not necessarily to be feared but always treated with a great deal of caution," he said.
"For a little kid scooping them out, he's either very lucky that when he picked them up he kept them the right way up or he got them very early in their development when it wasn't too critical."
Kyle's mother Donna Sim told News Limited she did not think any more of the eggs until she found the container full of hatchlings.
"I was pretty shocked, particularly because I don't like snakes," Ms Sim said.
But Ms Sim's discovery could have saved the animals' lives, as if they had remained forgotten in the wardrobe they would have died.
"If they hadn't been found they would have been doomed - doomed and entombed," Mr Wilson said.
It was reported Ms Sim and her son took the container to nearby Billabong sanctuary, where wildlife rangers were to release the reptiles into the wild.
I think if my 3-year-old found these eggs in the back yard I’d start looking for the MOTHER who laid them eggs.
Australians are so silly. All they have to do is pass a law banning the venom in the brown snakes and the problem will be solved.
Beats ME why I immediately thought of you...........
:)
Crickey! She’s really pissed off now!
He’s got a long way to go to beat Washington DC.
“... found the snake eggs several weeks ago and put them in his wardrobe”.
If he was mine, he’d be on the naughty step while I got my heart rate back to normal. Aaghghghgh!!!
If you had a three year old... he’d do the same darn thing and you know it!! LOL!!
Wait. These are among the most lethal snakes in the world, yet they released these creatures back into the wild, where they will now kill some unsuspecting person or animal with their venom? Lovely! Why can’t they be sent to zoos or some other place? Would no institution take even one of them?
Isn’t there a Bible passage that challenges:
“Father’s, would you give your son a snake?”
I should consider myself fortunate she still loves me.
A liberal Australian politician then introduced legislation calling for the ban of all Eastern Brown Snakes. She noted, however, that the Death Viper is perfectly legal as they only inject 40-100 mg of venom.
“But Ms Sim’s discovery could have saved the animals’ lives, as if they had remained forgotten in the wardrobe they would have died.
“If they hadn’t been found they would have been doomed - doomed and entombed,” Mr Wilson said. “
That is asinine. If she had not found them her son and maybe her would be dead. Who gives a shiite muslim about a snake that is proliferous.
You were a bad, BAD boy! My son sort of did something like this. He had a rubber snake that he got at a birthday party. Well, I was going through laundry (checking pockets for rocks, bugs, etc) and pulled out the most realistic looking snake. I SCREAMED! Strange... his rubber snake somehow disappeared after that incident. Hmmmm?!
On Monday, the boy's mother discovered seven squirming baby snakes inside a takeaway container she had given him after he found the eggs.
So, did she know he had found eggs when she gave him the container? Did she check to see what kind of eggs they were? Or did he just ask for a container without saying why he wanted it.
(As a mother of 4 boys, I learned that when kids ask for something unusual, it pays to ask what they want it for. My kids never tried to incubate snakes in a closet, but if they had found eggs they might have. Some boys will try to keep anything they can catch as a "pet.")
Lol.
Isn't that the only logical course of action?
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