Queensland girl's shocking discovery in school bag
<p>An Ipswich schoolgirl got the fright of her life when she reached into her bag for morning tea only to find a red-bellied black snake instead of her snacks.</p>
<p>The young primary school student from Augusta State School in Augustine Heights, southwest of Brisbane, didn’t notice the snake right away – in fact, it wasn’t until it slithered across her hand that she raised the alarm.</p>
<p>A staff member at the school bravely stepped in to quickly zip the backpack compartment closed and call a professional reptile handler.</p>
<p>Licensed snake catcher Lana Field from Snake Catchers Brisbane, Ipswich, Logan & Gold Coast arrived to find the two-foot juvenile snake curled up inside, explaining red-bellied blacks are actually quite shy, so it was probably looking for a place to hide when it entered the schoolbag.</p>
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<p>“It had every opportunity to bite the child because she’s putting her hand in there in a dark space but it would have been more interested in hiding,” Field told <a href="http://www.news.com.au/technology/science/animals/ipswich-student-finds-red-belly-black-snake-in-school-bag/news-story/6f1b9474bd2aae534002152ae55b1f38" target="_blank"><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">news.com.au</span></strong></a>. “Nobody has ever died from a red-bellied black bite.”</p>
<p>Funnily enough, the snake – the mascot for Slytherin house in the <em>Harry Potter</em> series – had slithered its way into a Gryffindor bag. In the books, the two houses are fierce rivals.</p>
<p>Field said call-outs for red-bellied black snakes were common, “particularly in areas where there are rock retaining walls and any areas where there is some water in the vicinity".</p>