We’ve all encountered some interesting things while cleaning our houses or gardens. If you have a pool, you might expect to find some leaves, twigs, and other debris whenever you’re about to clean it.

But what one Sydney mum found in her pool filter recently left her and others puzzled.

A woman stumbled upon a bizarre discovery while cleaning her pool recently, leaving her and others more than a little confused.

The woman said that after opening her pool’s filter, she was surprised to see an unidentifiable creature tangled and hiding in between the floating leaves, branches, and other debris.

Not wanting to disturb it but curious to find out what the creature is, the woman uploaded a photo of it on her local community’s Facebook page.

‘Snake or worm – or something else?’ She captioned.

Can you guess what it is? Credit: Facebook

One local responded that they thought the creature looked like a snake but had ‘no idea’ what the knotted mass actually was. While another joked it could be a ‘sneaky eel’.

The woman later commented that she figured out what the creature was after posting the photo on a ‘snake ID website’. According to the people who helped her, the animal is a blind snake.

Others agreed and deemed the snake as ‘completely harmless’.

‘They feed on ants and termites. You can gently pick him up and release him back in the garden,’ one said.

Dr Christina Zdenek, a Biologist at the University of Queensland confirmed to reporters that the mystery creature is a blind snake.

There are 46 species of blind snakes in Australia, but they are almost always mistaken for earthworms. This is because they are small and like to burrow in the ground. They are either pink or grey in colour and have a forked tongue and smooth scales all over their bodies, which allows them to travel through soil.

Their eyes look like small dark spots under the scales of their heads, and their mouth is just below the tip of the snout. Blind snakes can grow up to 75 centimetres.

Blind snakes are harmless. Credit: Australian Museum

Blind snakes are found wherever ants and termites are plentiful, as these insects are their main food supply. They also like to eat the eggs and larvae of ants and termites. To find food, these snakes flick their tongue to taste and smell the trail of ants and termites, and then they follow their food to their nests.

After finding the food source, they rake the ants and termites into their mouths and swallow their food whole.

These snakes are non-venomous and harmless to humans.

Herpetologist Serin Subaraj also confirmed to reporters that the snake seemed to have fallen into the pool before clinging onto debris to try and stay above water.

‘All snakes have the ability to swim, but species like blind snakes are not the best at swimming, so it would cling onto anything to stay afloat,’ he explained.

This comes after reports showing how easily a venomous eastern brown snake can slither under a house door.

Melbourne snake catcher Mark Pelley showed a large and dangerous eastern brown snake flattening itself to get past a door.

‘I'm frequently asked how snakes enter the house, so I thought I'd show you,’ Mr Pelley said in a video he uploaded to TikTok.

He added: ‘Eastern brown snakes — even a large one like this — have the ability to flatten themselves out and gradually squeeze under tiny gaps under doors. I frequently find them inside Australian houses in summer.’

You can watch his video below:

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According to Mr Pelley, all snakes in Melbourne are able to flatten themselves, while the big, thick pythons found in other parts of the country cannot do that.

‘All snakes endemic to Melbourne are venomous and have the ability to flatten themselves out to squeeze into tight spaces,’ he claimed.

Key Takeaways

• An Australian woman stumbled across a surprising discovery while cleaning her pool: a non-venomous blind snake.
• Local residents and experts speculated the creature was a snake but had 'no idea'.
• Blind snakes are non-venomous and cannot bite and are often mistaken for earthworms.
• Recently, a Melbourne snake catcher made headlines after capturing footage of how easily a venomous eastern brown can slip under a door.

Have you ever come across an unexpected critter in your house or someplace else? Let us know in the comments — it’s always interesting to hear the stories of our members, and we’d love to hear yours!

 

[RTS]

I checked my pool filter every day to release trapped frogs, when we lived in Darwin

 

[Pink lion]

I thought a few years back a large possum must have somehow been sneaking into our food cupboard, but it turned out to be a giant street rat that one of my female housemates, kept inviting in until she was schooled. The house soon returned to normal.

BTW to spray olive oil around the base on honey jars, sugar containers etc, is to prevent ants. They hate it as it gets in their antennae. This is a brilliant thing to remember to do, the next time you go camping.

 

[Lex]

That looks like a legless lizard. The look very much like a snake but you wont see it flicking a forked tongue out.