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?
  • Mossy Feathers (She/They)
    2•7 months ago

    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.

    • @saltesc@lemmy.world
      3•7 months ago

      They’re common, but not deadly. We have other common snakes that you definitely would not continue using the car with.

      red on black, friendly jack, red on yellow, kill a fellow" isn’t universal

      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.

  • AutoTL;DRBEnglish
    2•8 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:

    Newcastle woman Lisa Kournelis has been driving her car around for more than a month even though she knows a red-bellied black snake is living inside.

    Since discovering the reptile on the back seat of her ute last month, Ms Kournelis has called in five different snake catchers.

    Ms Kournelis has taken the advice of a snake catcher and has been wearing woollen pants and other protective gear when driving.

    Mr Collett said red-bellied black snakes were a highly venomous species, although they have never been responsible for a fatality in Australia.

    Garry van Dijk manages a car repair business in the Hunter and is no stranger to pulling vehicles apart to locate unwelcome critters.

    Ms Kournelis said she was looking at removing the seats and other parts of her car to locate and capture the snake.

    The original article contains 644 words, the summary contains 136 words. Saved 79%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!