Taiwanese rat snake bites Taiwanese trouser snake

Herpetological lavatory mishap began with 'knife-like' todger pain

By Lester Haines • Get more from this author

Posted in Bootnotes, 12th May 2009 10:50 GMT

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A Taiwanese man is recovering in hospital after a snake sank its fangs into his todger as he sat down on the toilet at his rural home, Reuters reports.

The unnamed 51-year-old Nantou County victim suffered "minor injuries" to his wedding tackle during the attack. The China Times explains: "As soon as he sat down, he suddenly felt a knife-like pain and reacted instinctively by standing up. When he looked down, he saw the big snake."*

The reptile in question - apparently a black and yellow species of rat snake - was later shown on local TV "being uncoiled and plucked slowly from the toilet bowl".

Reuters helpfully notes that slippery customers "regularly enter rural homes in Taiwan and other sub-tropical regions of Asia". Mercifully for the victim in this case, rat snakes (genus Elaphe) are non-venomous, but will "strike from an upreared position" if threatened, as Encyclopædia Britannica explains.

Of course, there are still health risks attached to having a rat snake chew on your trouser snake. The director of the hospital treating the unfortunate chap said: "As soon as he has passed the risk of infection, he can go. A snake's mouth isn't always clean." ®

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*We resisted it, and so can you. The first person to make the "When he looked down, he saw the big snake... and then he saw the reptile too" gag will be banned from El Reg for a month.

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