Man alarmed after finding pet playing with mystery creature
A man was understandably worried when he found his cat playing with a bizarre creature.
The man reached out to a local pet group on Facebook, asking people to help him identify the creature, which appears to be worm-like.
“Our cat was playing with it in the kitchen. So not doing the best,” the man said, when someone asked if the snake was injured.
The mysterious creature was the identified by many people in the comments as a blind snake.
Blind snakes are found in south-eastern Australia, wherever ants and termites are plentiful, according to the Australian Museum.
There are 46 species of the blind snake in Australia and they only grow up to 75 centimetres.
Although non-venomous and harmless, blind snakes do have a somewhat gross ability.
“They are able to produce a pungent odour from the anal glands, vomit up their last meal or prod with the tail spine to produce an unpleasant prickling sensation,” the Australian Museum says.
Many people in the comments of this man’s post said they thought the tiny snake was “beautiful” and one person described the snake as a “danger noodle”.
“We’ve found one of these before in our kitchen, by our cat too!” Someone said the in the comments of the Facebook post.
“They bloody stink! Perfectly harmless blind snake. Just pop it back outside somewhere safe it can burrow into the dirt.”
Interestingly, domestic cats were responsible for bringing blind snakes into residential areas, the few times they were found near the Brisbane area, according to Snake Catcher Brisbane.
Owls, foxes, other snakes and feral cats are known to eat blind snakes, according to the Australian Museum.
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