Extra freebies

More than a year into the pandemic and the world gets crazier and crazier.

Who would have thought that living a healthier life by eating veggies could lead you to your actual death?

Alex White noticed something peculiar about the plastic-wrapped lettuce he’d just brought

home from a Sydney supermarket.

He thought he was watching a huge worm writhing inside the plastic-wrapped lettuce until the “worm” flicked its tongue.

“I kind of completely freaked out when I saw this little tongue come out of its mouth and start flicking around and realized it was a snake because worms don’t have tongues,” White said in an interview.

What he witnessed sent White into panic mode. The next minutes, he was calling Wires, a wildlife rescue organization, which advised him to go to the hospital as fast as he can in case he was bitten by the snake.

White and his partner Amelia Neate freaked out when they saw the 20-centimeter-long snake moving as soon as the plastic wrapper was torn, but they managed to quickly trap the reptile with the lettuce into a plastic food container.

Later that day, the personnel from Wires came and took the snake away.

It was later discovered that the snake was a juvenile pale-headed snake, Hoplocephalus bitorquatus, one of the most arboreal of the Australian venomous snakes. It is endemic in Australia, too.

According to the Australian Museum, pale-headed snakes are a shy but nervous species, and easily agitated if cornered. When disturbed they quickly assume a threat position by holding the head and neck in a tight S-shaped loop, flattening the head and facing the intruder, sometimes with the mouth slightly open. If the intruder comes within reach, the snake will strike without hesitation, delivering multiple bites in quick succession.

Despite being venomous, there have been no recorded fatalities from this snake.

As for the couple, they ate the lettuce for their lunch after the rescue team took the unwanted freebies to their grocery items.