‘However that may be he shook off the creature into the fire, and took no harm.'
But whatever the barbarians thought he shook off the creature into the fire and took no harm. We note that he did not take it into his hand on the grounds that Jesus had said that believers could do so (Mark 16:18). He did not seek to do anything spectacular. He just shook it off. Not for him a showing off of his immunity against snakes.