Woman finds box of deadly snakes in her three-year-old's wardrobe

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An Australian mum got quite a shock when she opened her son's wardrobe to find a box full of deadly eastern brown snakes.

Sky News reports that Donna Sim, from Townsville, Queensland, gave her son Kyle the plastic takeaway food container when he was playing in the garden a few weeks ago.

But she didn't realise that he then put nine eggs that he found inside the box, and left it inside his wardrobe.

Seven of the eggs then hatched, and Ms Sim was horrified when she opened the wardrobe and saw seven baby snakes wriggling inside the container which, fortunately, had the lid pressed down tightly.

The snakes were identified as eastern brown snakes, which are thought to be the world's second deadliest species.

She told local paper the Townsville Bulletin, "I was pretty shocked, particularly because I don't like snakes."

The snakes were collected by North Queensland Wildlife Care. The reptile co-ordinator Trish Prendergast said: "This little boy was extremely lucky he didn't get bitten."

She explained that that the eastern browns were "born killers" and said that even babies had enough venom to kill people.

She added: "If he'd opened the container he might not be here today."

Kyle's older sister Shannon told the newspaper: "He's always out in the yard, he always loves playing out there.

"He's a real country boy. He was a bit sorry to see them go. He wanted to keep them."

The Guardian reports that eastern brown snakes can grow to more than two metres. They usually stay with their eggs but sometimes leave for short times to feed.

Trish Prendergast said: "He's very lucky he didn't encounter the mother while he was taking her eggs."

According to The Guardian there are, on average, three fatal snake bites in Australia each year, and eastern browns are responsible for most of them.

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