Arkansas Teen Practiced Football for an Hour With a Venomous Snake Hiding in His Helmet

A high school football player in Maumelle, Arkansas, spent nearly an hour practicing with a venomous snake hidden inside his helmet - and didn't find out until he took it off.

The Maumelle High School student felt an unusual movement inside his headgear after warmups last Thursday and brought the helmet straight to an assistant coach to have it checked out. What they found inside stunned everyone on the field: a live, roughly two-foot-long cottonmouth had wedged itself under the interior padding and stayed there through the entire session.

The cottonmouth, also known as a water moccasin, is the second most venomous snake found in Arkansas and is known for favoring dark, enclosed spaces - which apparently made a football helmet an appealing hideout. The snake was reportedly so reluctant to come out on its own that responding officers ended up pouring water into the helmet to flush it into a waiting bag.

Wildlife officials say the player was fortunate not to have been bitten during the roughly hour-long practice, given how close the snake had been to his head and neck the entire time. Cottonmouth bites can cause severe pain, swelling and tissue damage, and in rare cases can be life-threatening without prompt treatment.

Once safely bagged, the snake was relocated to a wooded area away from the school. The player, apparently unfazed by the ordeal, was handed a fresh helmet and went right back to practicing with his team.

The story has since spread widely online, with plenty of people asking the obvious question: how does a snake get inside a football helmet - and stay there, undetected, for an hour - without anyone noticing sooner?