Next time you come across a dead snake in the grass, don't be so sure.

An Australian man named Jake Thomas found a red-bellied snake inside of a vase on a tombstone in a graveyard earlier this month while he was mowing the grass. Because that kind of snake is venomous, he killed it by cutting it in half using a shovel... or he thought he killed it...

Little did he know, some snakes have up to an hour of time after death in which they can react by biting. About 45 minutes after killing the snake, Thomas went to pick it up and proceeded to place his hand inside the vase. Next thing he knew, the snake had dug its teeth into his hand.

"It grabbed on to me even though it was dead," Thomas said, as per the Daily Telegraph. "I pulled my hand out and saw two little marks and knew it had got hold of me." 

Thomas had to end up spending two days in intensive care, where he was treated with anti-venom. A photograph that has been provided to news outlets shows Thomas' hand with two visible bite marks that were scabbed over at the time of the photo.

"I won't be going near a snake, dead or not, for a long time now," Thomas said.

Thomas had to deal with a swollen hand for as long as a week. After something like that, it comes as no surprise that he wants nothing to do with snakes anytime in the near future.

According to the Wildlife Information Rescue and Education service, the kind of snake that bit him tends to stay away from humans and is apparently quite shy.

What about you? Many people have interesting stories to tell about encounters with snakes. Feel free to let us know in the comments section!