Father battles with deadly SPITTING COBRA after mother lifts her daughter, five, off the toilet and finds the snake inches below
- The deadly snake was curled around the U-bend while the girl used the toilet
- Her mother Juliette Roos spotted the Mozambique spitting cobra in the U-bend
- Husband Johan tried to hook it out with a curtain rail but it slithered away again
- Fright came while the family were camping in North West province, South Africa
A mother in South Africa had the fright of her life when she lifted her young daughter off the toilet to find a spitting cobra in the bowl.
The deadly snake, which can grow to be more than six feet long, was curled around the U-bend and the five-year-old girl had used the toilet without seeing it.
Her mother, Juliette Roos, shouted for help and her husband Johan rushed into the cubicle to battle the surprise reptile with a curtain rail.
But the Mozambique spitting cobra slid off the rail and back down the U-bend, in footage filmed at a campsite in North West Province, South Africa.
Ms Roos, from Pretoria, said: ‘It was very scary and something that only ever happens in movies. My unaware daughter had just used the toilet.
‘It was only when she had finished I saw the snake’s head protruding from the bowl. I went ice cold and didn’t want my daughter to panic so told her not to turn round.’
The couple and their young son and daughter were camping in North West Province and came across the snake in the communal toilet block.
Husband Johan said: ‘I thought I would encounter a spider in the bathroom but I definitely did not to expect to find a snake in the toilet. It sent shivers down my spine’.
Surprise: The Mozambique spitting cobra curled around the U-bend of the toilet, in the communal toilet block of a campsite in South Africa
He tried to hook the snake out with a curtain rail but watched as it slithered away down the U-bend. He said: ‘We decided to leave it in peace’.
Durban-based snake expert Byron Zimmerman confirmed the toilet snake was a Mozambique spitting cobra.
He told News24:’How it got into the toilet is anyone’s guess. I suspect it went in from the top rather than coming in round the pipe.
‘These snakes are highly venomous and their venom is cytotoxic, causing massive swelling and loss of tissue and is the most common venomous species in eastern South Africa.
Deadly: A Mozambique spitting cobra, seen here in a file photo, can grow to more than six feet
‘They spit their venom as well, so eye protection is advised if dealing with them’ he said.
The snakes grow to more than six feet, spit venom up to 10 feet and their bite can cause death if medical treatment is not quickly given.
The campsite management were alerted to the slithery intruder but it is not known if they found it.
Relieved Ms Roos added:’I will never go to the toilet ever again without looking twice!’