Slitherin’ snake! Sydney supermarket surprise

Helaina Alati was browsing the spice aisle of an Australian supermarket when she came face to face with a huge snake. The head of the 3-meter-long nonvenomous diamond python emerged through a space in a shelf above the spice jars in the Sydney store. “I was in the spice aisle just looking for something to put on my chicken that night, so I didn’t initially see it because it was curled up way back behind the little jars of spices,” Alati said Aug. 18. “I kind of turned to my right and it poked its head out.” Alati, who coincidentally is a trained snake catcher, said the snake’s head came to within 20 centimeters of her own. “Thankfully, I have a background in snakes, so I was pretty calm about it. It definitely shocked me a little bit because I wasn’t expecting it,” she added. Supermarket chain Woolworths confirmed in a statement that a “slippery and rare customer was spotted in the spice aisle” on the morning of Aug. 16 at its store in the suburb of Glenorie on Sydney’s northwest outskirts. Alati said she used her phone to video the snake before reporting it to the supermarket staff. (AP) This article was provided by The Japan Times Alpha.