A venomous cobra had laid eggs inside an old dwelling house. After the eggs hatched, the young snakes were seen moving about inside the house by members of the household, who killed all 21 of them one by one.

It happened on Tuesday afternoon (15 October) at the home of Md Zulfikar Ali Bepari at Bepari Bari in Anowapur village, Durgapur union, Matlab Uttar upazila, Chandpur. Because the adult snakes could not be caught, fear has spread in the area.

The owner, Zulfikar Ali, said that for several days he had been finding large shed snake skins inside and around his house. "On Tuesday afternoon, as soon as I stepped out, I saw a huge snake standing with its hood raised. When I shouted 'snake', it fled," he said.

He said neighbours then came, found holes in the floor of his house and began digging with a crowbar. Cobra hatchlings started coming out of several holes one after another. By the afternoon about 21 venomous cobras had been found by digging out the holes, and people then killed the hatchlings.

Al Zahid Hasan Tanvir of Bepari Bari said several hatchlings were seen at different spots in the room where the family keeps firewood. In this way the people of the house killed about 21 cobra hatchlings.

Local resident Md Sipon Bepari said that on hearing the news he went to Md Zulfikar Ali's house and found a frightening scene, with snake hatchlings coming out one after another from the floor of the old house. He said they were cobra hatchlings, known locally as highly venomous, and would be at least 10 to 15 days old.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.