# Snake bites Queensland woman while she sleeps



## cagey (Dec 10, 2018)

https://www.smh.com.au/national/que...d-woman-while-she-sleeps-20181206-p50kmz.html

It's everyone's nightmare. A commonly feared and potentially dangerous animal silently approaches as you sleep and decides to join you under the covers.

It was reality for a central Queensland woman who was woken by a snake biting her arm after she rolled on top of it in her bed as she slept.






The spotted python that decided to get warm in Mrs Terrill's bed.

Janice Terrill was sound asleep last week in her Grasstree Beach home, 37 kilometres south of Mackay, when she felt a "prick" on her upper arm about 11.20pm.

"I thought it was odd, so I reached to my bedside table to turn the light on and I felt what I was sure was a snake bite my thumb," she said.

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"I let out this primal scream and my husband woke up terrified.

"There was no sign of the snake when I turned the light on ... I thought it could have been a rat, but I was pretty sure it was a snake.

"Our 13-year-old ageing labrador came in because it had probably been traumatised by my scream, but it just wandered around for a bit.

"My husband then got a torch and looked under the bed and there was the snake."

Mrs Terrill's husband called triple zero and wrapped up her bitten arms.


Paramedics arrived and took Mrs Terrill to hospital, where she stayed for 12 hours for observation and routine blood tests.

"I was quite surprised how quick my survival instincts kicked in and I don't remember being scared ... I didn’t go into a mad panic after it happened," she said.





The worse of the two bites Mrs Terrill suffered.

Fortunately, the culprit was discovered to be a non-venomous spotted python, about a metre long.

It was believed to have been around head-height in Mrs Terrill's bed when it was squashed.

It is very common around Mackay and is described as a pygmy python.

Sarina Snake Removal snake catcher Heather Lampe removed the un invited guest from Mrs Terrill's house.

"I have had a snake seen going into a bedroom and found it under the bed between the slats and mattress, but this was the first time there was a person in the bed as well," she said.

"We had extreme temperatures last week, so the snake was basically looking for somewhere to cool down ... because they can’t regulate their body temperature like humans can.

"[Mrs Terrill] has slate floors in her bedroom, so that is a nice cool place, but when the temperature dropped a little bit at night, the snake probably got too cold and climbed into bed.


"I would probably have jumped a little bit and I'm not even scared of snakes."

Ms Lampe said she moved the bed and found the spotted python hiding in a corner where the bed had been.

"It was understandably a bit grumpy and nippy when I tried to catch it, but I just grabbed it by the tail ... it had had a bit of a bad day," she said.

The snake was released in nearby bushland where it would have plenty of food and water available.

"A lot of people still think a good snake is a dead snake, but snakes are only doing their thing and they are very important to our ecosystem," Ms Lampe said.


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## dragonlover1 (Dec 10, 2018)

Interesting story but there is a little bit of confusing information there, 1 minute they call it a Spotted ( Antaresia Maculosa), then it's a Pygmy (Antaresia Perthensis) which doesn't occur in Queensland. If it's a Pygmy Banded Python ( which does occur in Queensland ) then it is a sub-species of Stimson (Antaresia Stimsoni) . Sure they are all Antaresia but surely people who report on these things should get their facts correct.
I know I am being pedantic but I keep 4 of the 5 species of Antaresia.


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## Sdaji (Dec 10, 2018)

dragonlover1 said:


> Interesting story but there is a little bit of confusing information there, 1 minute they call it a Spotted ( Antaresia Maculosa), then it's a Pygmy (Antaresia Perthensis) which doesn't occur in Queensland. If it's a Pygmy Banded Python ( which does occur in Queensland ) then it is a sub-species of Stimson (Antaresia Stimsoni) . Sure they are all Antaresia but surely people who report on these things should get their facts correct.
> I know I am being pedantic but I keep 4 of the 5 species of Antaresia.



Jesus, dude. They're using the word pygmy as an adjective, not a name.


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## dragonlover1 (Dec 10, 2018)

Sdaji said:


> Jesus, dude. They're using the word pygmy as an adjective, not a name.


As I said I'm being pedantic, I don't expect to be taken seriously


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## Sdaji (Dec 10, 2018)

dragonlover1 said:


> I don't expect to be taken seriously



That's fortunate 

If you're going to be pedantic, at least make sense. I'm a big fan of pedants when they're correct and consistent, as any pedant should be.

It was obviously Antaresia maculosa. They said it was Mackay. A pedantic (or simply knowledgeable) Antaresia fanatic would know it wasn't a a 'Pygmy Banded Python' from the location, and the picture. There was no inconsistency.

I'm a pedant too as you may have noticed.

Also, if you're going to whinge about technicalities involving names, use them correctly yourself. Specific names (eg. maculosa) are not capitalised. "Antaresia Maculosa" is incorrect, and if you want to be a pedant you need to underline or italisise them. _Antaresia maculosa_ is the correct name.


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## dragonlover1 (Dec 11, 2018)

Oooooh shot down in flames


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## Sdaji (Dec 12, 2018)




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