Other Animal (But Non-Buggy) Crackers

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The Snake in the Blanket

The item of apparel, exact model of snake, and so on vary widely. Sometimes the animal is a tarantula or other fearsome spider instead. The foreign origin of the coat may reflect an element of xenophobia, but also probably reflects the prosaic fact that the US and Europe have few terrifyingly venomous animals. (It'd be interesting to know if Australian versions use local animals, Australia having the world's most venomous fauna by a wide margin.)

Debunked: A snake (usually venomous) is accidentally sewn into a coat (usually foreign-made), and bites a customer trying on the coat in a store.

"The Snake in the Blanket" in Brunvand, _The Vanishing Hitchhiker_.

There's actually a kernel of truth to this story, in that exotic animals often do show up with goods shipped internationally. The brown tree snake, a pestilent introduced predator on the island of Guam, is believed to have arrived in this manner, and several have been discovered as stowaways in cargo arriving in Honolulu. Shipments of plants are particularly prone to have hidden passengers, since animals at the point of origin may use the plants as shelters.