Austrian gets shock of his life as python bites him on the toilet

[July 05, 2021]  VIENNA (Reuters) - An Austrian had the kind of morning that nightmares are made of on Monday when a python slid through his drains and bit him while he was sitting on the toilet.

The stunned 65-year-old in the city of Graz turned around shortly after 6 a.m. to see a roughly 1.6-metre (5-foot) albino reticulated python in the bowl, police in the province of Styria said in a statement.

"Shortly after he sat on the toilet the Graz resident - by his own account - felt a 'pinch' in the area of his genitals," the police statement said.

The snake, a constrictor native to Asia that can grow to more than 9 metres (29 feet) long, is thought to have escaped a neighbour's apartment unnoticed and slid into the toilet through the drains, though its exact route was still unclear, the police said.

A reptile expert contacted by the emergency services removed the snake from the toilet, cleaned it and returned it to its owner. Its victim was treated in hospital for minor injuries.

A reticulated python is seen at a snake farm in Tainan, southern Taiwan, February 5, 2013. Picture taken February 5, 201. 3. REUTERS/Pichi Chuang/File Photo

The 24-year-old neighbour, who owns 11 snakes, all non-venomous constrictors, has been reported to the prosecutors' office on suspicion of negligently causing bodily harm, the police added.

(Reporting by Francois Murphy; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

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