Snake catcher warns Aussie residents to shut windows and doors as temperatures rise

As temperatures continue to rise, we’re being warned to shut our windows and doors as snakes are driven out of the bush and into people’s homes.

With some of the deadly reptiles coming too close for comfort, snake catchers like Stuart McKenzie on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast are being run off their feet retrieving and releasing them.

“This time of year, we can get anywhere from 20 to 30 phone calls in a day, just living around homes, living in roofs, living in gardens,” Mr McKenzie told A Current Affair.

The unwanted house guests are often found hiding in places you’d least expect.

“We’ve pulled them out of fridges, out of the back of ovens, out of cars, underneath beds, washing machines,” he said.

And venomous or not, stumbling across one of these slithery creatures is sure to get your heart racing.

“Nearly every time I catch an eastern brown snake, like the adrenaline is pumping,” Mr McKenzie said.

His love of reptiles started at a young age, owning two shingle back lizards as his first pets.

Fast-forward to now, and that love has turned into a full-time job: running Sunshine Coast Snake Catchers 24/7.

“I guess the reason I love it is it’s always different,” he said. “Each snake can act different so that keeps, I guess, the unknown of the job always going — I don’t know what I’m going to experience every day.”

The number of callouts can be as unpredictable as the snakes themselves: up to 30 pleas for help in one day, removing everything from our most venomous red-bellied blacks and eastern browns to non-venomous tree snakes and carpet pythons.

But don’t panic: “Are we getting inundated or invaded by snakes? We are not. We are absolutely not. The snakes have always been there,” Mr McKenzie said.

He said it’s the increase in housing developments and lack of bush land combined with weather patterns that’s seeing them slither into suburban homes and shelter in bizarre places, as seen in Mr McKenzie’s videos.

“Geez, look at the size of him! Isn’t that crazy, now that was hiding in that tiny little shelf,” he said in one video that revealed a deadly red-bellied black resting among dolls in a children’s playroom on the Sunshine Coast.

“Oh, look at the size of this thing, inside the toy basket … that is an extremely healthy red-belly,” Mr McKenzie said in the video — while a tree snake found the perfect spot under a book shelf.

Wanting to get in on the action ourselves, A Current Affair joined Mr McKenzie for a day on the job and headed out to a home on the Sunshine Coast to retrieve a non-venomous carpet python in a tree.

It’s often fine to leave this type of snake where it is, but this couple have a small dog, and wanted to avoid any potential confrontation.

“For a little dog (it) might have been a problem, so thought the best thing to do was get it relocated and give Stuart a call,” homeowner Peter said.

“In this situation, the last thing you want to do is lose the snake if he tries to take off into the rest of the tree. (I’ll) probably try hook him out and carry him over to you with the bag if that’s alright,” Mr McKenzie told him.

Within seconds he managed to retrieve the snake.

“And there he is … that there is a gorgeous carpet python, quite healthy too. We’ll chuck him in the bag and then we’re going to go take him for a drive and release him back into the wild, find a nice patch of bushland away from homes and roads,” the snake catcher said.

He then allowed A Current Affair reporter Jessica Nagel to release it into the bush.

“What you’ve got to do is be nice and gentle like that, and let him sort of move through your hands if he does want to move,” Mr McKenzie said.

If wrangling these reptiles is your dream job or you simply want to confront your fears, you’re in luck. From next month, Mr McKenzie and his team are offering special snake-catching tours for the public.

“They obviously won’t be able to touch venomous snakes, that’s obviously a no brainer, but in terms of non-venomous — carpet pythons, tree snakes, that sort of thing — we are going to get them involved especially in releasing them,” he said.

And the whole experience is captured on camera, so you can back up your stories of bravery.

“I think it’s one of the best jobs in the world, I think it’s one of the most dangerous jobs in the world,” the snake catcher said. “I love what I do.”

For those wanting to jump on a snake catching tour with The Snake Catcher 24/7 visit: thesnakecatcher.com.au

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