Ten households in a German apartment building evacuated in the early Monday morning when a man’s venomous snake went missing, numerous sources reported.
A man noticed that one of his 12 snakes, a small Cape coral snake, was missing from its terrarium Sunday. The man notified the city’s fire department after his own search didn’t turn up the snake, according to Deutsche Welle. The Cologne Zoo was also contacted.
A small, young, but venemous Cape coral snake escaped a terrarium inside an apartment building in the German city of Cologne, prompting a search by 20 firefighters with help from the local zoo.https://t.co/jPDsOonG0j
— DW News (@dwnews) February 15, 2021
Neighbors in the building were roused from their beds before dawn as a precaution. (RELATED: Bachelor Party Dare Leaves Man In Hospital After He Licks Venomous Snake)
“They were all tossed out of bed at 6 a.m.,” a neighbor told the German news site Express, according to Deutsche Welle. “Their nerves are shot.”
The man’s apartment was sealed off and sawdust was placed on the ground to detect the snake’s tracks. Food traps were also laid. People checked the basement located outside the building, where the snake would have been likely to have fallen into a slow, lethargic state due to the basement’s cold temperature.
Cologne city authorities urged “extreme caution” and said that a bite from a small Cape coral snake would lead to “mild to moderate reactions,” according to Deutsche Welle.
The Cape coral snake is found in parts of Southern Africa and mostly inhabits arid regions where there are deserts and rocky or sandy ecosystems, according to iNaturalist.