Matt Clancy Wildlife PhotographyGood thing someone found the snakes before they got big.
Three-year-olds like animals, stuff they find on the ground, and things they think are mysterious, which for a 3-year-old is most of the world. So it makes sense that when 3-year-old Kyle Cummings found nine eggs in his yard, he brought them inside, put them in a warm, dark place — his closet — and waited to see what would come out. And of course he didn’t tell his mom. These were his secret.
But earlier this week, Kyle’s mom found the plastic takeout container where Kyle had hidden his eggs. Inside were seven baby snakes — and not just any baby snakes. What had come out of Kyle’s eggs were Eastern brown snakes, which, the Associated Press says, are among the “world’s most venomous species on land.”
The snakes, it turned out, were doing fine, despite having been born in a plastic takeout container. And really, it’s a good thing that mom found them, a snake expert told the AP:
“Their fangs are only a few millimetres long at that age, so they probably couldn’t break the skin, but they’re just as venomous as full-grown snakes,” Prendergast said.
“If venom had got on Kyle’s skin where there was a cut or if he put it in his mouth, it could have been fatal,” she added.
With Christmas coming, we hope that Kyle’s parents indulge his curiosity in the animal world and get him one of those field guides with beautiful, non-poisonous pictures that will teach him about the great diversity of life out there … and also how to identify which critters to stay away from.
