Snake catcher's hilarious response to strange find in toilet
When the snake catcher received a photo of the creature he had some startling news for the homeowner.
Catching and safely relocating venomous snakes is part of Rolly's job — it's right there in his title.
But as a snake catcher in Adelaide for over five decades, he told Yahoo News Australia it's often not the reptiles that shock him the most, but rather his insight into other people's lives.
"I've seen everything," he said. "From whips and chains in the cellar to dope crops in a shed."
A recent and "hilarious" insight came from a phone call he received from a panic-stricken resident who asked him to retrieve a snake from her toilet. After receiving an image of the creature, Rolly phoned the resident back immediately.
"Look it's not a snake, it's some type of tapeworm... and it's probably come out of your bum," he recalled himself saying. "I think you need to go to a chemist."
"I was going to ask her if she wanted to go fishing and she could have stood next to me and supplied the worms," he joked.
Could the worm have come from the resident?
Although the idea of having worms "come out of your bum" may seem medieval, around 3.5 billion people are affected by intestinal worms annually, according to the National Institutes of Health.
There are many varieties of worms that can affect humans, however, most are not a problem in Australia thanks to our climate and good standard of sanitation. The only common worm infestation seen in Australia is threadworm, which usually occur in children but can be transmitted to adults.
Unsurprisingly, the resident didn't provide Rolly with a status report on her trip to the chemist, with over-the-treatment medicine readily available. But the worm in question identified by Professor of Parasitology Malcolm Jones was an earthworm — not an intestinal worm.
"Looking at the worm, I note that it is red in colour. Usually intestinal parasites are white or cream," he told Yahoo.
"It could be from a backflow in the toilet, or something that fell off the person’s clothing as they sat on the toilet," he explained further.
Despite the unanimous decision, with Professor Andrew Thompson from Murdoch University agreeing the creature is indeed an earthworm, the identification doesn't take away from the unusual experiences the snake catcher has to contend with while on the job.
"I get to see everything these days, I tell ya," Rolly said.
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