Panicked Woman Sucks Up Venomous Snake in Vacuum—'Think You've Seen It All'

Most of us have been guilty of sucking the odd spider up a vacuum cleaner at some point in our lives. But sucking up a snake is much more unusual.

After setting off to go kayaking on Tuesday afternoon, snake catcher Drew Godfrey, of Hervey Bay Snake Catchers, received a callout from a couple at a holiday resort in Hervey Bay, in Queensland, Australia.

"Just when you think you've seen it all in this job, someone calls you and says their wife has sucked a snake up with the vacuum cleaner," Godfrey said in a Facebook post.

Originally, the couple had called Godfrey out to remove the snake from their holiday unit, but things quickly escalated from there.

"He called back quickly saying not to worry because his wife had vacuumed it up," Godfrey told Newsweek. "I explained that they are protected species and it would be cruel and illegal to leave it in there. They understood and were happy for us to come out."

When Godfrey arrived at the scene, the vacuum cleaner was lying out on the porch with a plastic bag around its nozzle to prevent anything from escaping.

"This is different," Godfrey said as he walked onto the porch.

In footage of the incident, shared to Facebook, Godfrey can be seen carefully opening the vacuum cleaner and removing the extractor bag. "I opened the bag that catches all the dust and it was inside there," he said.

The snake was a newborn hatchling yellow-faced whip snake, a slender, fast-moving species that is often confused for the highly venomous eastern brown snake.

Yellow-faced whip snakes are common throughout Australia and grow to lengths of roughly 2 to 3 feet, as estimated by the Australia Museum. They can be distinguished by their grey/brown bodies and their yellowish faces, from which they derive their name.

Although this species is mildly venomous, it is not considered dangerous to humans.

"I've been envenomated three times by these snakes," Godfrey said. "It's like a bee sting."

After tearing into the extractor bag, Godfrey removed the baby snake and put him in a box. "The snake was unharmed, just a little dusty and confused," he said. "It was just happy to be free."

Godfrey took the snake to some nearby bushland and released it away from people and their property. "Bet that sucked for you," he said to the snake.

Should you ever find a snake on your property, the best thing you can do is to keep an eye on it and call in your local snake catcher.