Snake sightings spike to dozens a day in southeast Queensland

With the advent of spring, snakes are on the move again, with a surge in close encounters for South East Queensland residents.

Snake sightings in South East Queensland have skyrocketed in the first month of spring, with local catchers reporting up to 12 call-outs a day.

Brooke Harrison from Harrison’s Gold Coast and Brisbane Snake Catcher said the company had seen a noticeable increase in the number of call-outs for snakes.

“Especially after the recent rains, snakes have been coming out to mate,” Ms Harrison said.

“This time of year, you’ve got lots of males coming out to find females to mate with.”

Ms Harrison said their service was averaging around 12 calls a day, mostly to relocate snakes that had been found in people’s yards.

Catchers from the company recently captured a cranky carpet python

Snake Catchers Brisbane and Gold Coast’s Bryan Robinson said the increased numbers of snake sightings were “a normal fluctuation in the ecology of the area” as they went from an “inactive to an active period” as the weather warmed up.

The company had received call-outs for snakes found everywhere from a children’s toy box, a kitchen bench and a vegetable garden, to a childcare centre and another curled up with a huntsman spider.

A carpet python found in a toy box on the Gold Coast. Picture: Snake Catchers Brisbane and Gold Coast

While Queensland Ambulance Service data shows 56 people were bitten across Queensland in September last year and another 103 people were in October, Mr Robinson said most snakes were harmless if left alone.

“It’s only when snakes are engaged with that we see a danger,” he said.

Ms Harrison said people could reduce the likelihood of finding snakes in their garden by getting rid of “bits of tin, sleepers or pallets; anything that attracts snakes as shelter”.

But Mr Robinson said that while general maintenance around the house could help deter snakes, regardless of how tidy a place is, snakes can pop up anywhere, including suburban shopping centres.

“If a snake is trying to get from A to C, it may use your place as B,” he said.

Ms Harrison said there were a couple of venomous snakes southeast Queenslanders should watch out for.

“Eastern browns are the most common snake on the Gold Coast, and the second most venomous snake in the world,” she said.

She also warned the red-bellied black snake was known for encounters with people’s pets, and owners should phone their local veterinarians to see which had anti-venom to be prepared if their pet was bitten.

People were welcome to send pictures of snakes to snake catchers to have them identified.

“If it is harmless often people will choose to leave it be,” she said.

A carpet python found on a kitchen counter in Brisbane’s Chapel Hill. Picture: Snake Catchers Brisbane and Gold Coast