Tulsa, OK– A woman preparing for sleep encountered an unexpected shock when a snake, having slithered into her home and nestled beneath her pillow, bit her.
An Oklahoma woman named Donna Bratschun shared with local news station KOKI that one December night, as she was preparing for bed, she was startled to find a snake hiding under her pillow. Sadly, she couldn’t react in time, and the snake struck before she could get to safety.
“It’s one thing for it to get into your house; it’s another thing for it to find your bed, climb your bed, and cuddle under your pillow,” Bratschun told the station.
Initially, Bratschun expressed worry about the bite since she was unsure of the snake species that had taken up residence in her bed.
“It didn’t break the skin, but it did leave teeth marks. And it was pretty tender,” she said.
To tackle the unexpected reptile visitor, she called on her husband for assistance. He carefully took the snake out of the bedroom with thick gloves and a container.
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Bratschun noted that her husband determined the snake was non-venomous, likely identifying it as a bull snake, which is commonly found in their Oklahoma neighborhood.
Wildlife expert Kayla Jobe shared with KOKI that bull snakes are non-venomous and can be beneficial to have around your home, as they help control small rodent populations.
Jobe noted that bull snakes can squeeze through openings as narrow as one inch and often seek refuge indoors when temperatures drop.
“They want to be warm, and snakes specifically can’t regulate their own body temperature, so they seek warmth typically in burrows, but sometimes occasionally, we’ll see them in people’s houses,” she said.
Bratschun mentioned that the snake might have traveled with the plants her family brought indoors before their Thanksgiving trip, eventually finding its way to the warmest spot in the house.
This isn’t the first time a snake has disrupted someone’s sleep schedule.
Last week, a man in Stellenbosch, South Africa, came home to discover a live cape cobra coiled under a pillow in his bed.
A man reached out to Stellenbosch Snake Removals for assistance, as reported by UPI. An expert snake catcher, Emile Rossouw, was dispatched by the company to handle the reptilian intruder.
In a video shared on Facebook on Nov. 24, Stellenbosch Snake Removals highlighted that cape cobras are “highly venomous,” contrasting them with the bull snake discovered in the Oklahoma couple’s residence.
“This snake varies in color from near black to dark or light brown, beige, yellow, or speckled, while juveniles have a dark band on the throat. The Cape Cobra is easily confused with the Mole Snake and the Black Spitting Cobra,” the company shared on Facebook, along with a clip of Rossouw removing the cape cobra from the home.