'My snake got stuck in my earlobe' - pet owner seeks hospital treatment

A woman from Portland, Oregon, has shared photos on social media showing her pet snake apparently trapped in her ear gauge.

Ashley Glawe told her Facebook follower that the snake, a ball python named Bart, had made a dash for the hole in her ear and, before she could stop him, he was wedged in tight.

Writing on Facebook Ms Glawe said: “I was holding my snake and his dumb ass saw a hole, which just so happened to be my f***** earlobe, and thought that it would be a bright idea to attempt to make it through.

“It all happened so fast that before I even knew what was going on it was already too late… Now, believe it or not, I’m sitting here in the Emergency Room with Bart stuck in my f****** ear.”

After her photos went viral, with 32,000 shares at time of writing, a number of commenters questioned Ms Glawe’s story. One wrote: “I do not buy for a second that this snake managed to somehow sneak through there undetected. There cant have been any jewelry in there and, at that size, a lobe without a tunnel or plug would just hang and would not look like something through which to climb. Ridiculous selfie effort gone wrong?

However, Ms Glawe insists the incident was all the snake’s own doing, and a friend of hers who witnessed it corroborated her story.

Responding to another comment asking whether the snake had been freed unharmed, the same friend responded that a doctor at Portland Adventist Hospital had cut her ear to widen the hole slightly, and Bart was then removed from his owner’s ear with the help of some vaseline and string.