Snakes shelter in SEQ, Northern NSW homes as TC Alfred approaches | Photos
From eight snakes arriving at the one property to increased sightings on windows, aircon units and even the pantry, here’s how snakes are sharing our space across SEQ and northern NSW. VIDEO, GALLERY.
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Snakes sensing heavy rain is on its way thanks to the ever-changing Tropical Cyclone Alfred are increasingly seeking shelter in homes across southeast Queensland and northern NSW.
In the past 48 hours the Snakes Identification Australia website has been flooded with images from residents within the warning zone requesting confirmation from experts about the species of snakes spotted in and around their place.
Deb Lark posted a warning with a video of a red-bellied black snake disappearing into a gap in her brick wall and up into her air-conditioning unit in the Lockyer Valley.
“With snakes searching for safe grounds during the impending cyclone any gap will be welcoming for them,” she wrote.
“This RBB had gone up the capping for our aircon and is either inside the house behind the head unit or in our wall or roof cavity.
“Just be aware that there are many places you never think of that they could get inside.”
Rhona Breeze, 87, from Hope Island, called a snake catcher to remove a green tree snake from her kitchen pantry.
“It was very cute,” Ms Breeze said.
At Pine Mountain in Brisbane, Sheilah Weston found what was identified as a common tree snake inside an unused fish tank and said it was the “third snake in two days looking to escape the cyclone” and that the reptiles were just “looking for a place to bunker down”.
An amusing photo of another common tree snake which appeared to be trying to get in via a kitchen window at Laidley, southwest of Brisbane, was posted by Mick James.
At Brookfield, John Wacker posted a picture of a yellow-faced whipsnake at his place with the caption “This little fella is trying to work out how to avoid the cyclone”.
Also in Brisbane, a brown tree snake was found in a plant wrapping around a veranda post at Pullenvale.
Another brown tree snake moved into a veranda at Maleny in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland and was posted to the SIA page by Frances Guard who said “getting out of the way of Cyclone Alfred … sorry I didn’t get to see the head. Second pic just shows pattern on back”.
A third brown tree snake was said to be sheltering “from the storms” at the southern end of the cyclone warning zone – Yamba near Grafton while another was seen climbing up a chair at a home in Byron Bay.
Nudgee resident Mel Flesser was in for a surprise when she spotted a snake trying to get into her house.
“This guy tried getting in through the kitchen window yesterday,” Ms Flesser said.
Another common tree snake was seen climbing up the wall of a home at Cooyar a poster commenting “poor thing is probably just trying to get away from the cyclone”.
Some of the world’s deadliest snakes also needed somewhere to ride out the weather with an eastern brown spotted slithering alongside a home at Yandina on the Sunshine Coast while an eastern small eyed snake made its way inside a Brisbane loungeroom and had to be removed by a snake catcher.
Pythons were a plenty with this photo at Greenslopes, which mirrored images of loose items frantically being roped down to solid bases, generating amusing comments on the SIA page including one from Kate Wall who wrote “He’s got himself a good anchor point there”.
Smaller carpets spotted at Helensvale on the Gold Coast which has been hammered by rain, wild surf and winds and bigger specimens in the Wide Bay which while north of the expected strike zone is expected to cop heavy rain.
In a post to the Fraser Coast Chronicle page, Keita Shaw from Howard said “we have had nine (snakes) in the last eight days”.
A photo of a snake at a property on Bribie Island, which is expected to feel the full force of the cyclone and where a second breakthrough has left Caloundra exposed, was also posted but at the time of publication experts had been unable to identify the species.
Have you had a snake visit your place this week? Send photos and video to andrew.hedgman@news.com.au
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