Watch sneaky, green passenger emerge from couple’s car hood on Australia highway

Kerry Jenkins and her partner were cruising down the Pacific Highway along the eastern coast of Australia when they noticed something peculiar.

Nearly 160 miles into their drive home from a family beach vacation, only about 20 miles from home, the couple realized they had a sneaky hitchhiker. Slithering into the view of the windshield from the hood of the car was a small, skinny, yellow-green figure bouncing.

“What the ...” Jenkins laughed behind the camera in a now-viral Sunday, Dec. 4 TikTok she posted about the encounter.

As the creature moved up the hood of the car, Jenkins realized what she was seeing.

“Oh it’s a green snake,” she told her partner as the snake struggled to keep its balance atop the car as it flew down the highway. “Babe, you need to pull over so it can just get out.”

For the next two or so minutes, as the couple debated whether to pull over, the snake fought to stay on top of the car.

“I don’t wanna get anywhere near it,” Jenkins’ partner said.

First mimicking a windshield wiper, the snake is seen sliding between the two sides of the car’s hood. After a dizzying minute of slipping back-and-forth, the snake seemingly tries to stabilize itself by picking its head up.

“Mate you just need to hold on to your tail,” Jenkins told the snake in the video. “Oh don’t put your head up. Mate! He’s angry.”

(Warning: The video contains explicit language.)

Eventually, the car began to slow, taking an exit off the highway. Rounding the bend of the road, the snake flies to the left of the hood and disappears from view.

“I don’t think it came out because it wasn’t on the road,” Jenkins assures her partner.

In a second video posted Monday, Jenkins explained that after stopping the car, she and her partner located the snake, still hanging onto the front of the hood. The sneaky passenger wasn’t ready to be caught though, so it quickly slithered onto the ground and back up to the underside of the car where it disappeared again.

“We continued to drive home and looked on and off over the next few hours,” Jenkins wrote in the video’s caption. “With a torch we ended up seeing him, and my son tried to catch him and get him out and he darted back into the motor. Again, unsuccessful.”

Monday morning, Jenkins said she tried again to find the snake without any luck.

Finally, early Monday evening, Jenkins’ partner began to search for the pesky snake again under the car’s hood. This time was successful.

“My partner just popped the bonnet and he was sitting on top of the motor,” she wrote on TikTok. “My partner dropped the bonnet afraid (massive snake phobia). I opened it back up and we could see his tail sliding into a crevice.”

@kerryjenkins32 We were on holidays at Darlington Beach, 30kms north of Coffs Harbour, travelling home to Forster. We had been on the road for 250ks, 30ks from home on the Pacific Highway, when we noticed a little yellow head. I grabbed the phone & started recording. We didn't know what to do! We assumed it would just fly off, & didn't think it would have held on for so long. We knew the turn off wasn't far away, & wanted to be safe off the highway before we pulled over. Once we pulled over we could see it was still hanging onto to the front grill. It slid onto the ground & then back up into the under motor. A fellow helped us look, with no success. You can see in 2nd video. We continued to drive home, and looked again on and off over the next few hours. With a torch we ended up seeing him, and my son tried to catch him and get him out and he darted back into the motor. Again unsuccessful. We waited overnight and I've looked again in the morning and found nothing. I would have assumed he got out and escaped. 4.13pm today 5th Dec 2022 my partner just popped the bonnet (unfortunately without videoing) and he was sitting on top of the motor, my partner dropped the bonnet afraid (massive snake phobia) I opened it back up and we could see his tail sliding back into a crevice. #windscreenviper #treesnake #ridealong #burnthecar #stuckinmycar #snakesoftiktok #hitchhiker #snake original sound - Kerry Jenkins

The snake, still not ready to abandon ship, disappeared again into the car.

TikTok users commented on Jenkins’ latest video, arguing that the family’s car now belonged to the snake.

“So basically it’s the snakes car you just borrow it now,” one user wrote.

“The snake has been trying to contact you about your car’s extended warranty,” another commented on the video.

“You need to make peace with the fact that you have a car snake now,” a third user wrote.

Green tree snakes are non-venomous snakes that are commonly found in the northeastern region of Australia, according to the Queensland Museum. While they are not venomous, they can grow to be up to 6.5 feet.

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