A Maumelle High School football player practiced for nearly an hour with a venomous cottonmouth snake tucked behind the padding of his helmet before anyone realized it was there, Arkansas animal control officials said this week.
The player told his coaching staff he felt something moving inside the helmet after warmups on the practice field. An assistant coach inspected the headgear and spotted the snake, roughly two feet long, wedged behind the interior padding. Maumelle Animal Services was called to the school and initially suspected the snake was a copperhead before officers on scene identified it as a cottonmouth, also known as a water moccasin.
The snake proved reluctant to leave voluntarily. Officers ultimately submerged the helmet in a bucket of water to force it out, then removed it with tongs, according to accounts given to NBC News and CBS News. The player was not bitten and continued practice unaware of what had been sharing his helmet for most of the session.
Chris Davis, director of Maumelle Animal Services, said the outcome could have been far worse had the snake struck.
If this snake would've bit the child, it probably would've been very fatal. The cottonmouth, in my opinion, is probably the second most venomous snake here in Arkansas — I would say the rattlesnake is probably the number one.
Chris Davis, Maumelle Animal Services
Davis, a veteran of unusual removal calls, said he had never encountered one quite like it. "I've removed a snake out of a car vent, in the engine, purses, backpacks," he said. "In a helmet? Never." He described the discovery as "very unreal," adding that photos were needed to convince colleagues the report was genuine.
Cottonmouths are semi-aquatic pit vipers common to wetlands, creeks and drainage areas across the southeastern United States, including central Arkansas, and are known for standing their ground rather than fleeing when disturbed, unlike many nonvenomous water snakes they are frequently confused with. Maumelle Animal Services used the incident to renew a standard seasonal warning to residents: check helmets, cleats, gloves and other outdoor gear left outside or in garages before putting them on, particularly during warm months when snakes seek out enclosed, shaded spaces. The school has not said whether it plans to change how equipment is stored between practices.