111 baby cobras and and 20 eggs were found in a labourer's mud house in Paikasahi village
A family from a village in Odisha's Bhadrak district was horrified to discover they'd been sharing their home with over a hundred baby cobras. Forest officials and snake catchers helped remove the tiny but highly venomous snakes from their home. The baby cobras will be released into their natural habitat, away from human habitation, say forest officials.
111 baby cobras and 20 eggs were found in a labourer's mud house in Paikasahi village on Saturday. Two adult snakes were spotted the next day, Divisional Forest Officer of Bhadrak, Amlan Nayak, told news agency
PTI. "The sight was unbelievable. Hundreds of baby cobras were found bundled up under the floor," Mr Nayak said to
Times of India.
The baby cobras are believed to be up to three-days-old. The adult cobras, a male and a female, are around 2.10 meters in length, reported PTI.
A video shows the rescued baby snakes writhing about and coiled up around each other. A few even have their hoods raised and can be heard hissing and spitting.
Cobras can lay up to 30 eggs and they hatch within 45-60 days, Subhendu Mallik of Snake Helpline told NDTV. "Is it a coincidence that the cobra babies hatched on a single day? Is it a coincidence that all the snakes laid their eggs on the same day, same time? Where are the empty egg shells?" the snake expert asked, urging forest officials to probe the bizarre discovery.
Mr Mallik identified the reptiles found as Indian cobras or binocellate cobras (naja naja). Indian cobras are one of the four venomous snake species found in the Indian subcontinent. They are protected under the Indian Wildlife Protection Act 1972.
Local reports suggest Bijay Bhuyan was aware of the presence of some snakes in his home but he likely had no clue just how many there were or how dangerous they could be. He had spotted a snake in the house earlier and was aware of an enormous termite mound from which he seen snakelets emerge. "Earlier we have seen snakes inside our houses. With a belief that they will bring prosperity, we never tried to disturb them. The snakes had also never attacked us and we don't know how many are there," Mr Bhuyan told Times of India. His two children and wife share the home with him.
Local snake catchers assisted forest officials in rescuing the snakes, which may be released in the nearby Hadagarh Wildlife Sanctuary.
Last month,
an Indian cobra was filmed laying 23 eggs in Odisha's Bhubaneswar. The venomous cobra was rescued from a family's home by a snake catcher a few days earlier. The state's Snake Helpline filmed the reptile laying the eggs, which were artificially incubated.Click for more
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