Would you be brave enough to put one of these shoes on knowing there’s a SNAKE in one…can you see it?
THIS is the shocking photo of a venomous snake curled up in a child’s shoe – can you spot it?
Kym Beechey, 56, was retrieving a lunchbox that had been left outside when she saw the deadly animal lurking about.
Kym, of Jilliby, New South Wales, spotted the deadly red bellied black snake’s head sticking out of one of her daughter’s shoes – it’s a species infamous for its agonising bite.
She said: “I headed to the front porch to collect an abandoned lunch box that was in danger of becoming the subject of a science experiment.
“I leaned down to pick up the lonely lunchbox and nearly headbutted my snakey friend, so although in a shoe it was my face that was in greatest danger.”
Kym said the snake was curled up, “snuggled” in her daughter’s mountain bike riding shoes.
She joked: “She was very pleased I found it and not her!”
The danger of red belly snakes are all too familiar for Kym, who has had many run-ins with the species in the past.
She said: “I was in labour with my first child there was one in the house – and when I brought my child home from hospital, there was one in our bedroom.
“We know they can be about, so we do take care, however it is always a surprise to find them so close to you. In this case, so close to my face.”
The bite of the red-bellied black snake causes severe pain, along with swelling, prolonged bleeding, and localised necrosis or skin death, which can lead to amputation.
The venom of the red-bellied black snake contains deadly toxins, which can also lead to nausea, vomiting, headache, abdominal pain, diarrhoea, or excessive sweating.
Lucky for Kym, it has not caused any recorded deaths down under and the mum knew it was unlikely to attack.
She said of the dangers: “I am aware of that but also know they are rarely aggressive.
“When I find them I like to just watch and wait for them to move on – and this one did move on.
“I was more concerned my silly dog would get bitten rather than me.”