If the recent spate of snek yarns has had you feeling a bit freaked out, here’s some evidence of a true fact that should put your mind at ease: snakes are really dumb.

Like, tennis-ball-eating dumb. 

WATCH: 1.5 Metre Carpet Python Has A Tennis Ball Massaged Out Of Its Gob

A Townsville snakehandler (or should we say, the Townsville Snakehandler), Brian West, was called to a home where the owners had spotted a particularly rotund-looking 1.5 metre carpet python. West took the naughty snake to the Townsville Vet Clinic, where x-rays revealed that it had made a quick snack of a tennis ball. 

WATCH: 1.5 Metre Carpet Python Has A Tennis Ball Massaged Out Of Its Gob

Why? Well, as senior veterinary nurse Trish Prendergast told the Townsville Bulletin:

“It probably smelt like food, maybe frogs.

That seems generous, but okay: maybe the tennis ball smelt like frogs. Sure. 

Prendergast spent 20 minutes massaging the tennis ball out of the snek, and you can watch the last 30 seconds of that right here:

Ta-da. Snakes are dumb.  

Source: Townsville Bulletin.

Image: Facebook / Townsville Snakehandler.