Family discovers one of Australia’s most venomous snakes curled up in a children’s toy box

A Queensland family got a shock this week after discovering a snake curled up in a box among children’s toys was one of Australia’s most venomous reptiles.

A Sunshine Coast family got a shock when they found a venomous snake in their child’s toybox this week.

A video posted to the Sunshine Coast Snake Catchers 24/7 Facebook page shows snake catcher Justin Bellini using a stick with a metal hook on the end to retrieve the reptile from a box full of toys.

“Justin headed out to a home recently where they had seen a brown coloured snake in the kids toy box,” the post above the video said.

A woman in the background of the video can be heard saying “he’s right in the corner.”

After moving the toys in the box around for a few seconds, Justin can be heard saying “And this is why we use the stick. He’s an eastern brown.”

The snake then strikes at the hook Mr Bellini is using to find the reptile.

“Oooh alrighty, he’s not keen to see me,” he said.

A young Eastern brown was found in the toybox of a Sunshine Coast home on Sunday. Still from a video. Picture: Sunshine Coast Snake Catchers 24/7/Facebook

Mr Bellini, 31, of Caloundra, said he was called to the Rainbird Place, Wurtulla home about 1.30pm on Sunday after being told a family thought a common tree snake had moved into the cardboard box.
“The people there didn’t weren’t familiar with snakes,” he said.
“They saw it as a small skinny sort of thing and maybe just assumed, so they were very surprised to learn just how dangerous it was.”

Eastern browns are listed as being the second most dangerous snake in Australia and one of the deadliest snakes in the world.
The inland Taipan, is the most venomous snake in the nation.
Sunshine Coast Snake Catcher owner, Stuart McKenzie, 32, said the approximately half a metre long snake was likely only about one or two years old.

“It’s not a common spot for them to hide but it has happened before,” he said.

The venom of the eastern brown is one of the most deadly in Australia. Picture: Scottie Simmonds

Mr McKenzie said snakes often sought shelter during summer and on windy days.

The video compilation also shows two other snake removal jobs in the past week.

In one of the videos, a small keelback – a non-venomous freshwater snake – from a pantry and in the third video, another eastern brown is removed from the louvres of another home.

Snakes have previously been found in lawnmowers, toilets, birdcages, toolboxes and have even popped up on windscreens after unsuspecting motorists started driving.

A venomous red bellied black snake was found hiding in the toy basket of a Maroochydore family’s home in October 2020.