An Australian Woman Was Bitten by a Python While She Was Sitting on the Toilet

An Australian woman was bitten by a snake hiding in her toilet, the BBC reports.

Helen Richards, 59, was going to the bathroom in a relative’s Brisbane home when a five-foot carpet python hiding in her toilet delivered her a non-venomous bite.

“I jumped up with my pants down and turned around to see what looked like a longneck turtle receding back into the bowl,” Richards told The Courier Mail newspaper.

Snake handler Jasmine Zeleny told the BBC that the reptiles often seek out water in toilets when the weather is hot and the climate dry, as it is now across much of the country. A record-breaking heatwave has been scorching parts of southeast Australia in recent weeks.

“Unfortunately, the snake’s preferred exit point was blocked after being spooked by Helen sitting down, and it lashed out in fear,” Zeleny told the BBC. “By the time I got there, she had trapped the snake and calmed down. Helen treated the whole situation like a champion.”