Tech Support

November 28, 2002 3:58 PM

"Cryptophis nigrescens killed my computer."... "my computer was making a strange hissing noise last night and this morning when I turned it on there was a crackling noise and some smoke then nothing, if I bring it in can you fix it?"

One of my colleagues took this tech support call and has the photographs to prove it.
posted by snarfodox (19 comments total)

you said the "n" word.
posted by quonsar at 4:18 PM on November 28, 2002

african australian?
posted by ouke at 4:24 PM on November 28, 2002

Poor snakey!
posted by frykitty at 4:54 PM on November 28, 2002

so the snake crawled into the powersupply?? looks pretty big... wow.
posted by tomplus2 at 5:21 PM on November 28, 2002

Crikey! From the look of the snake it's an Australian Red Bellied Black Snake. Quite nasty if you get bitten, but not deadly (except to small dogs and children). My parents had one swimming around in their pool a couple of years ago. Dad just used a shovel. Didn't need any of those fancy computerized snake killin' machines.
posted by Major at 6:02 PM on November 28, 2002

Oh my, animals and the machines man create... So we're either running over deer or snakes are entering our computers. It's a messy system of biological habitats out there.
posted by superfem at 6:41 PM on November 28, 2002

This is a hoax if I've ever seen one...
I want more backstory...
posted by Captain Supermarket at 8:00 PM on November 28, 2002

One day I was walking through a parking lot when I noticed a snake was poking its head out through a hole in someone's hub cap. I took a look and saw that the reptile was coiled around the brakes. I left a note on the windshield warning the owner to check for snakes before driving off. I can image a snake in the brakes can result in a nasty burning smell. What will those zany belly-crawlers do next?
posted by Man-Thing at 8:25 PM on November 28, 2002

I for one salute our new cyber-snake overlords...
posted by jkaczor at 10:14 PM on November 28, 2002

hoaxville .

why would it crawl in there if there the computer wasnt warm ?

and if the computer was warm ( on ) , how did the psu fan not kill the snake ?
posted by mishaco at 10:51 PM on November 28, 2002

Mishaco - Perhaps it crawled in soon after the computer was shut down, or simply liked it as a hiding space, even cold.

The inside of a computer would probably remain toasty for over an hour after it is shut off.
posted by Mitrovarr at 11:43 PM on November 28, 2002

short snake or snake short?
posted by NortonDC at 11:45 PM on November 28, 2002

Get Steve Irwin on the job.
posted by kev23f at 12:16 AM on November 29, 2002

More backstory:
This was a technical support call for the School of Education at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia.
The machine is the home computer of a departmental staff member. It was brought in for the school's IT support staff to check out when it abruptly stopped working (with the symptoms described).

We're still not quite sure whether it was a small-eyed snake or a very young red-bellied black snake. We'll work out a scale count at some stage to determine the species.

I have seen snakes caught in soft-drink cans, pool cleaning pumps and lots of other small, dark, quiet places that turned out to be terrible hiding places. I guess if it turns out to be a good hiding spot we're never even aware that they're there.
posted by snarfodox at 1:06 AM on November 29, 2002

My stepfather once had a rattlesnake climb up into the wheelwell of his harley. He was off of the bike for a total of maybe a half hour, and the snake decided that it was cool and shady enough to hide out in.

To segue, my father once found a kitten up in his wheelwell.

The point? Animals are stupid. And like to hide.
posted by Katemonkey at 1:44 AM on November 29, 2002

The third pic is immensely disgusting (and looks like a different snake from a different position). This has an unsettling Cronenbenger-like feel to it, doesn't it? I mean, snakes are pretty gross, and the way it's tangled into the machine gives me the creeps.
posted by 111 at 4:08 AM on November 29, 2002

I think it's more precise to say that his computer killed a perfectly good Cryptophis nigriscens. Poor thing.
posted by mcwetboy at 4:50 AM on November 29, 2002

111, they had to flip over the power supply to remove the cover. Same snake, underside.
posted by xiffix at 6:33 AM on November 29, 2002

As so it was like beep, beep. And that's when I decided to switch to a Mac. They don't have any exposed orifices for our long skinny friends to crawl into.
posted by blue_beetle at 8:58 AM on November 29, 2002