Alarming footage has caught the moment an eagle-eyed young boy discovered a highly venomous eastern brown snake — the deadliest snake in Australia — hiding in his lounge room.
A video of the incident shared on Sunday showed the boy’s mum meeting snake catchers at the door, after her four-year-old son spotted the snake and smartly called for help.
“We just got home. He walked in and went, ‘Oh, there’s a snake!’ Thank god he came back,” the mum could be heard telling the Sunshine Coast Snake Catchers as she flashed a photo of the deadly snake.
Professional snake catcher Stuart McKenzie entered the living room to find a 4.5-foot eastern brown snake, also known as a common brown snake, slithering along the skirting boards behind the young boy’s bike.
The Australian eastern brown snake is the second most venomous snakes in the world after the inland taipan, which is also native to Australia. The inland taipan, though, is considered a docile snake — whereas brown snakes kill more people than any other snake in the country.
Just 1/14,000 of an ounce of an eastern brown snake’s venom is enough to kill an adult human. About two Aussies die every year after being bitten by the reptile.
In the video, Mr McKenzie could be seen placing a snake catching net onto the ground and inviting the deadly snake in.
After a curious look around, the eastern brown helpfully slithered straight into the bag.
“That’s it, good snake. It’s like you’re trained,’ Mr McKenzie said.
In the background, he could be heard whispering in disbelief: “Can’t believe it was inside and her son found it.”
Mr McKenzie gave a warning to “kids listening out there”, saying: “If you ever see a snake, don’t go near it. Go and find your parents.”
Commenters praised the young boy for his quick thinking when he found the venomous reptile.
“Well spotted, young fella, and good job being calm & collected,” one user wrote, garnering the reply from Sunshine Coast Snake Catchers: “such a little legend”.
“That was awesome Stu … Mate you seriously have some snake whispering skills. Well done to the little fella for knowing exactly what to do, tell ya mumma,” said another.
“Of course the child spotted it first, their sharp little eyes. Good snake going into the bag, really makes you look good Stu,” joked a third.
The deadly snake was released into bushland, where it quickly slithered into the long grass and out of sight.
In other videos on their page, the Sunshine Coast Snake Catchers get up close and personal with the snakes they catch, even gently lifting them up to show the camera — but in this incident they stayed noticeably farther back.
Last week, the group shared footage of a carpet python that was caught sneaking into a public toilet.
Mr McKenzie could be seen surveying the “beautiful” snake before gently coaxing its head out with a snake hook. Once he had the python gently by the neck, there was a short struggle to de-tangle its long tail and body, which were wrapped around the roof beams.
The python began to climb up Mr McKenzie’s arms as he cooed: “That’s it, beautiful. Don’t bite me. I’m sorry.”