Not so little snake having a snooze at Centro

"If a warming venomous snake is disturbed, they can turn and they rarely miss.”

SCALY SURPRISE: Jabecca Anne Stewart photographed this carpet python curling up in the Centro car park on Sunday. Picture: Contributed

WHILE warmer weather means snakes are on the move, snake catcher Codey Rowe says in extreme times of heat, like the region has been experiencing in the past few weeks, snakes prefer to seek the sun in the cooler hours of the days.

It may have been what the large carpet python (pictured) was doing in the Centro car park on Sunday morning, when visiting shopper Jabecca Anne Stewart captured a snap of it before centre management was contacted.

Mr Rowe estimated it was about two and half metres long.

"Snakes seek sun because they are the only reptiles in the world that can't regulate their own body temperature."

"But on really hot days the chances of seeing a snake in a paddock is 50/50," the owner of Gympie Reptile Removal said.

They tend to seek the sun between 7 and 9am and 3.30 and 5pm, he said.

He said while they prefer shade in the middle of the day, if a snake is disturbed they will move about.

Snake catcher is Codey Rowe, from Gympie Reptile Removal rescues a carpet python after it was run over by a car on Exhibition Rd, Southside, between Gympie South State School and the Showgrounds.Photo Patrick Woods / Gympie Times. Picture: Patrick Woods

Having tended to jobs involving Easter browns in the region recently, he warned people to be careful.

"If a warming venomous snake is disturbed, they can turn and they rarely miss."

"If you're going to lift something that's got breathing room under it, it's also got enough room for a snake underneath that can potentially kill you."

"Juts about all snakes don't like being out in the open- they will hide in logs, underneath buildings and anything they can squeeze their head not."

Mr Rowe said the best thing to do if you came across one was to stand and watch from a safe distance if you are waiting for a snake catcher to arrive.