Venomous snake ensnared in family's mousetrap

CASCADE, Australia, Jan. 19 (UPI) -- A Western Australia man who heard a mousetrap go off in his home discovered he had ensnared an unexpected invader -- a tiger snake.

Anthony Parker of Cascade posted a video on Facebook showing the venomous serpent thrashing at the trap in an attempt to free itself Monday inside his family's home.

"I love mouse traps," Parker wrote.

Parker told the Esperance Express he heard the trap go off shortly after he arrived home from work Monday.

"I came home from work at about 5 p.m., had a coffee and had a look at a few things on the Internet and as I was sitting there I just heard the mousetrap go snap," he said. "I turned around, had a quick look and literally jumped off my stool because there was a snake about 3 meters [10 feet] away from me in the mousetrap."

"It was just trying to escape by trying to bite the trap off I think; I think it may have thought the trap was alive trying to get it," Parker said.

He said he put out mousetraps in the home when his wife heard what she thought were mice after the family returned home from vacation.

"We were away over the weekend so there was probably mice running around the house which attracted the snake in," he said.

Parker said he decided to kill the snake out of fear for his young son's safety.

"I did feel sorry for it, but I couldn't risk moving it when it was like that,"  he said. "I felt a bit sorry for it in a funny sort of way; I didn't want it in the house, but I don't kill snakes unless they are around the house because we have a little boy."