A man has been bitten by a python while using the toilet in his home.
The incident occurred in Graz, Austria on Monday, July 5, 2021.
The python reportedly slid through his drains and bit him while he was sitting on the toilet.
Reuters reports that the stunned 65-year-old in the city of Graz turned around shortly after 6am to see a roughly 1.6-metre (5-foot) albino reticulated python in the bowl, police in the province of Styria said in a statement.
“Shortly after he sat on the toilet, the Graz resident – by his own account – felt a ‘pinch’ in the area of his genitals,” the police statement said.
However, the man was not seriously injured. He was only treated in the hospital for minor injuries. The case would have been different if the snake was a venomous one.
Meanwhile, the snake, a constrictor native to Asia that can grow to more than 9 metres (29 feet) long, is thought to have escaped a neighbour’s apartment unnoticed and slid into the toilet through the drains, though its exact route was still unclear, Reuters quoted Austria police as saying.
The snake was eventually removed after a reptile expert was contacted by the emergency services. Thereafter, it was cleaned up and returned it to its owner.
However, the owner, a 24-year-old neighbour of the bitten man, was reported to the prosecutors’ office. His offence centres on suspicion of negligently causing bodily harm.
Equally important, he is believed to own 11 snakes, all non-venomous constrictors.
