Highly venomous eastern brown snake discovered peering out from under refrigerator in suburban Adelaide is captured, then goes on to lay 15 eggs

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

An Adelaide woman got the fright of her life when she went to get a drink from the fridge and discovered a brown snake peering out from underneath.

The venomous eastern brown snake had a surprise in store for the homeowners – it was heavily pregnant and later laid 15 eggs.

Rolly Burrell from Snake Catchers Adelaide, who caught the snake, said: “It’s lucky she saw the snake now or she might have been going to the fridge to get a drink later on and seen all these little critters all over the place.”

The incubation period for brown snakes is between 55 and 80 days.

Burrell said it had been easy to catch the snake – he simply moved the fridge and grabbed it. “I’ve been doing it for 40 years and I make it look easy,” he said on Wednesday. “When you’re doing 300 snakes a month you tend to get a little bit blasé.”

The snake is recovering from the exhaustion of laying the eggs. She was given some mice and water to build up her strength before being released.



The eastern brown snake is responsible for most of the snakebite deaths in Australia, usually only one or two each year.