The world loves the fact that Australia is home to snakes and spiders.
There are around 3,000 snakebites in the country a year and about two a year are deadly.
So when we heard that a man had been bitten by a snake as he sat on the toilet, we automatically thought of somewhere in outback Queensland or the wheat belt region in the south-west corner of WA. But no, it actually happened in Graz, the second largest city in Austria.
The 65-year-old man was bitten by a 1.6 metre python when he made a visit to the toilet.
He “felt a nip in the genital area” shortly after sitting on the toilet just after 6am on Monday, according to a statement from police in Styria province. He then looked into the toilet and discovered the albino reticulated python.
The snake escaped from the apartment of the man’s 24-year-old neighbour. It was not immediately known how it escaped and how it got into the older man’s toilet. Police said it may have made its way through the drains.
A reptile expert was called to retrieve the snake, which was cleaned and returned to its owner.
Police said the younger man kept 11 non-venomous constrictor snakes and a gecko in his apartment, in terrariums and drawers. He faces an investigation on suspicion of causing bodily harm by negligence.
There will be no Christmas card for that young man.
