Viral video shows the moment dad is bitten on the head by a non-venomous rat snake hanging off his screen door, sending him tumbling off the porch
Viral video shows the moment dad is bitten on the head by a non-venomous rat snake hanging off his screen door, sending him tumbling off the porch
- An unsuspecting father was bitten by a hidden rat snake hanging on his front door when he tried to enter his house after a night out
- Fortunately, the snake was not venomous and its bite poses no threat to humans
- Ring camera footage of the incident shows the man panicking, screaming and eventually falling over on his lawn
Knock Knock!
A man got an unpleasant surprise last week when a black rat snake bit him on the head as he tried to open his front door and enter.
The man, dressed in shorts, a black T-shirt and carrying a bright orange water bottle, made his way to his porch, where he began unlocking his front door.
When he swung open the screen door, the black snake he didn’t notice at first was hanging from the top of the frame – until it jumped down and bit his head.
The middle-aged man felt the bite and immediately jumped back, touching his head where the reptile struck.
When he realized what had happened, he yelled, “I’ve been bitten!”
Rat snakes are non-venomous and not usually considered dangerous, although they may bite as a last resort if confronted or believed to be trapped
Panicked, the man backed away, tumbled over the step leading to his front door, fell down, lost a shoe and rolled onto the grass, before yelling again, “I’ve been bitten.”
Luckily for the man whose embarrassing moment was captured by his Ring camera, the snake hanging from the door wasn’t venomous and if he got a little confused, the man eventually made amends.
The man’s son, Stevie Haven, lovingly posted the entire incident to TikTok, where the video has been viewed more than 33 million times.
A second video Haven uploaded shows him and his father’s girlfriend returning to the house, at an unknown location, just before the biting incident.
“This was before dad came in haha I had too much to drink and never saw the snake. Bit his girlfriend on the head too,” Haven writes with the video.
In that footage, a woman can be seen walking to the porch with Stevie behind her. According to his caption, Stevie appears to be slightly intoxicated and shoeless.
As the pair enter the house, the black snake can be seen hanging in the background, though neither noticed its presence.
The animal seems to lunge at Stevie, who entered the house second, though it missed and Stevie – who wasn’t really paying attention to details at this point – continued walking undisturbed.
The girlfriend locked the door behind him before her boyfriend walked to the door.
After the man was bitten, he returned to his porch to see if the snake was still there. His Ring camera captured him rubbing his head and surveying the immediate area before going back inside without finding his attacker.
The unsuspecting man opens his front door after what seemed like a night out with his son
The rat snake hangs on the screen door and jumps at the man
The man flinches in response to the head bite he just received
Realizing what has happened, the man begins to panic and yells at his family that he has been bitten
Rat snakes are non-venomous and not usually considered dangerous, although they may bite as a last resort if confronted or believed to be trapped.
The 2 to 6 meter long snakes can be found in most parts of the northern hemisphere. They are located in almost every southeastern state and most eastern and midwestern states, as far north as New England.
The snakes mainly feed on rodents.
Researchers described rat snakes as “proficient climbers” who can scale brick walls and logs. If they are frightened, they will assume a “kinked” posture, according to the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory at the University of Georgia.
Rat snakes are generally believed to make good pets – if a pet snake is your idea of the perfect pet.