Yes, Brissie backyards come with snakes. Removing them creates another risk

“What … the hell … hang on.” I was midway through recording a voice note when I spotted something dangling from my roof.

“Is that… ?”

Hard to know how long this guy was living in the crawl space. Credit: Courtney Kruk

It was, indeed, a two-metre python. Great, I thought, how long has that been up there?

I like snakes. Or at least I do when they’re not hanging out where I sleep.

When I moved to a property in the Byron Bay hinterland last year, I knew they were part of the package.

Moving to inner-city Brisbane, on the other hand, there was less of an expectation of living close to snakes. That was until last week, when I walked into the scene of a snake removal on my way to work.

Brisbane snake catching service Snake Out had been called to remove an eastern brown snake from a row of shops on Montague Road. The snake in question was poking its head out from a drain cover, seemingly tossing up what to do next.

I took a wide berth as directed and joined the audience of shopkeepers that had gathered to watch the drama unfold. But the snake was in no rush to be moved on, so I took my leave before it was bagged up.

October is the start of snake-breeding season, and with a warmer-than-usual spring forecast and a hot, dry summer ahead, I wouldn’t be surprised to see more snakes around inner-city suburbs.

There’s a perception that snakes don’t belong in urban environments and that, if spotted, they need to be relocated.

But Chantelle “Chilli” Derez, a University of Queensland PhD student and founder of The Brisbane Python Project, wants people to rethink that reflex.

“Normally, people’s first thought of any snake in suburbia is that it’s lost and must be ‘returned to the wild’ and away from humans.

“There are good intentions with that,” she says. However, the bush is a different environment from what an urban snake is used to.

Chantelle ‘Chilli’ Derez: “”For people who are afraid of, say, carpet pythons in their area, I tell them to give it a name.”Credit: Brisbane Python Project

“It’s very much like taking someone from Sydney and dropping them in Darwin or Alice Springs. It’s still part of Australia but it’s a completely different environment.”

For the past five years, Derez has been studying urban snake ecology and the impact of relocation on urban snakes.

She points out there’s no industry standard for where snakes are relocated, and little is known about how they fare.

“There have only been a couple of studies done here in Australia,” she says. “But one over in Perth on dugites [a type of brown snake] found that any snake removed more than 300 metres from where it was caught, died.”

Derez’s research into Brisbane’s urban snakes will be published early next year. In the meantime, she wants people to start understanding the valuable role the reptiles play in local ecosystems and environments.

“Snakes definitely eat rats and mice and possums. Some people don’t necessarily like those animals in their houses,” Derez says.

Carpet pythons are generally harmless to humans but can pose a risk to some small domestic pets. Credit: Allieca

Another argument against the removal of urban snakes is that they know the area – and the people living in them. “The local snakes get to know the normal activities of humans and … when it’s safe for them to move.

“Quite often it actually would be better to leave that animal there that knows your movement. When you move any snake, the concern is that you’re just creating space for another snake to move in.”

Carpet pythons, green tree snakes and eastern brown snakes are the most common species found in and around Brisbane.

Naturally, there isn’t always going to be synergy between humans and snakes. Eastern browns are highly venomous, so in certain situations need to be relocated, and carpet pythons pose a threat to some domestic animals.

But even in uncomfortable situations, Derez has advice.

“When people ask me what to do if they see a brown snake, for example, in their yard, a lot of the time I tell them to use that as an opportunity to get to know local wildlife,” she says.

“For people who are afraid of, say, carpet pythons in their area, I tell them to give it a name. Because humans are naturally afraid of what they don’t know or don’t understand, but as soon as you give it a name, it suddenly becomes a little bit more personal.”

I asked a friend – who is absolutely petrified of snakes – whether naming their resident red-bellied black snake (Roy) has helped her accept living close to the animal she fears most.

“Yes,” she replied, “It helped me humanise him and hate him a little less.”

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