Toddler bitten by a snake at Anzac Park, Southport, amid crowded Gold Coast Show

A toddler enjoying a night with his family at the Gold Coast Show ended up in hospital after grabbing “a stick” that turned out to be a snake.

A toddler enjoying a night with his family at the Gold Coast Show ended up in hospital after grabbing “a stick” that turned out to be a snake.

The little boy was treated for a suspected snake bite by event staff in the show’s medical tent before Queensland Ambulance Officers arrived just after 7pm Saturday.

More than 120,000 people are expected to have passed through the Gold Coast Show by the end of this weekend.

Event staff were told the boy felt something climbing on his leg and thought it was a stick and was bitten when he tried to pick it up.

The species of snake, which was described only as “short”, was not known.

The boy was taken to Gold Coast University Hospital in a stable condition.

Snakes have been found in shops, schools and homes across the Gold Coast in the past week as warmer temperatures herald the start of what a leading catcher calls “the crazy season”.

Excited male reptiles are on the move in big numbers, eager to slither into the affections of a female during a mating season that runs from now until the end of October.

The Gold Coast region is home to 24 species of snake, from the highly-venomous Eastern Brown to the relatively harmless Common Tree Snake.

Originally published as Toddler bitten by a snake at Anzac Park, Southport, amid crowded Gold Coast Show