Man closes lid of washing machine, finds venomous snake staring at him, VA video shows
A night of laundry turned dangerous for a Virginia man when he closed the washing machine and discovered a venomous copperhead staring back at him.
It happened around 7:45 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 17, at a home in Chester, and the stunned man "jumped back" fast enough to avoid a bite, according to Virginia Wildlife Management and Control, a wildlife trapping company.
"He was almost bitten. He was traumatized," Virginia Wildlife Management owner Rich Perry told McClatchy News.
"It was just six feet from his bed. If that thing had dropped down and gotten into his bedroom, he might have stepped on it or crawled into bed with it."
Perry rushed to the apartment after a photo was texted to the company's snake identification hotline. The man was unaware the snake was venomous. The hemolytic venom of copperheads "causes the breakdown of red blood cells," experts say.
Video shows Perry arrived to find the two-and-a-half foot snake still atop the dryer, lounging on a pile of clothing.
It remained passive until caught with a pair of tongs, then began writhing angrily and slinging its tail to escape containment in a bucket, Perry says.
"I would be the first to say any snake found on top of a washer and dryer (in Virginia) is a rat snake, but I saw the picture and was shocked to find it was a freaking copperhead," Perry said.
"I'm 59 and never in all my years have I seen a copperhead up on a piece of equipment like that. If I had not seen it with my own eyes, I would not have believed it."
An investigation revealed the snake likely used a dryer vent to get inside, Perry said. The snake found an opening in bricks next to the vent and used the hose to slither into the laundry room.
Video of the discovery on Facebook had nearly 490,000 views as of Oct. 23, and had more than 8,000 reactions and comments.
"I would be buying a new dryer because I don't think it would survive a shotgun blast," Randy Toney posted.
"That's the biggest copper head I've ever seen," Patti Bostick wrote.
"I would die if I was pulling clothes out my dryer and I grabbed a copperhead," Summer Coleman said.
Chester is about a 16-mile drive south from Richmond.
