Snake catchers reveal why more pets are being eaten by snakes

It is a warning Queenslanders have heard for a few years now: Keep pets inside during snake season. Snake catchers reveal why.

POPULATION growth has been identified as one reason cats are falling prey to pythons more often in recent years.

As rural areas continue to become more urban, pets are also simply becoming easier targets for the opportunistic reptiles, according to snake catchers.

At least four cats having been confirmed as swallowed by snakes in January in Queensland alone, along with a number of guinea pigs, birds and chickens.

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In previous years, up to 10 cats have been taken within weeks during snake season.

Snake catchers say the number is likely not accurate, with more eaten than reported.

Jonathan and Hayley-Anne Hill from Miss Hiss Reptiles said population growth has seen more cats – and some dogs – falling prey to hungry pythons in recent years, especially as some of their natural prey was on the decline.

“The Kuranda area is especially thick and heavy with scrub pythons,” Mr Hill said.

“Plus, we’re getting more and more people coming to the area, so they’re bringing a lot more cats and letting them roam around.

“We probably go out to half a dozen calls about cats per year, and that’s just us, and that’s confirmed ones.

“There would be more than that in unconfirmed ones.”

A large scrub python that has just eaten a pet cat in Kuranda in January. Picture: Miss Hiss Reptiles.

A large scrub python that has just eaten a pet cat in Kuranda being released in January. Picture: Miss Hiss Reptiles.

Mr Hill said the Atherton Tablelands areas had a diverse range of snakes including eastern browns, amethystine or scrub pythons, taipans and other jungle snakes.|

He said once the reptiles picked up a certain animal scent, they’d continue to hunt that prey.

“They take a taste of the air, and once they get familiar with a particular chemical cue - like from a cat and they successfully have a feed on one once - they are more likely to go for a cat again,” he said.

Scrub pythons are Australia’s largest snake and can grow up to 8m and weigh about 20kg.

Mr Hill said a scrub python that ate a pet 6-month-old cat in Kuranda in January was almost 3m long and about 13kg.

“That one was caught at a residential property just off Masons Road, out of the village centre and near the Barron Falls,” he said.

“It was right near the place where we caught the snake that had eaten the stuffed toy last year.”

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Mr Hill said there had also been attacks on dogs, including a staffordshire terrier that was eaten in Kuranda in 2017.

“When you think they can take on a wallaby or something of that size, a lot of these animals are well within the size range,” he said.

“If they successfully feed on one type of animal they’ll continue to do that. It’s just an opportunistic eater.”

David Walton, of Cairns Snake Removals, said pets also had a common daily routine, leaving them easy prey for snakes.

“When it comes to cats, you can look at couple of different perspectives,” he said.

“Curiosity killed the cat is one. Sometimes you can get a stupid cat that doesn’t realise the danger and sniff, sniff, bang, bang the show’s over,” he said.

“Of course domestic pet targets are probably a lot easier to prey on than wild ones as, say, kitty likes to have a nap at 2pm every afternoon in the same spot - or maybe the litter tray is on the patio - so the snake knows kitty will frequent that spot.

“Wild animals will go to the same spot as well, like to water, but wild animals are a bit more switched on to danger, whereas domestic ones don’t have a worry in the world as they’re fed every day.”

A dingo before it was consumed by a 3.5m scrub python in Cairns a few years ago. Although the dingo was wild, snake catchers say more pets are being taken by python. Picture: Cairns Snake Removals.

Mr Walton said chooks, caged birds, guinea pigs, cats and some dogs proved to be easy prey in more suburban areas.

“There are also more rats in suburbia,” he said.

“So when snakes move into suburbia, there’s easy pickings.

“Cats are more favourable than dogs, although I don’t know if they’re a more convenient-sized meal or if it’s a quieter confrontation when a cat is taken, as dogs bark and growl and that alerts the pet owner something is going on.”

Mr Walton said a 1-year-old bull mastiff was killed by a 5m scrub python in Yorkeys Knob a few years ago, though it was more likely for puppies to be taken.

He said the dog’s owner woke to noise by the dog about 3am.

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By the time Mr Walton arrived, the dog was dead but had not yet been swallowed.

In another Cairns suburb about six years ago, Mr Walton said a 3.5m scrub python devoured a dingo.

“The residents of the household had an ongoing issue with dingoes as they back onto the forest, he said.

“Dingoes were coming out of the bush in the early hours of the morning and getting into the rubbish bins.

“They’re creatures of habit, which allowed the snake to get into place and ambush one of those dingoes as it was coming out of its usual trail out of the hills, and ate it.”

File photo: A scrub python that had just eaten a dingo in Cairns a few years ago. Picture: Cairns Snake Removals.

Mr Walton said a 5m snake was usually between 20 to 25 years old.

Mr Hill said keeping pets inside or in cat runs with wire with small gaps was the best way to keep them safe.

“If the animals are inside the house, that’s a safe spot as it’s more difficult to get inside a house,” he said.

“If people want them outside the only really safe thing to do is put a run outside that doesn’t have a gap bigger than two fingers.

“Vermin-wire is one of the best things to get as if a rodent can’t get in there, snakes can’t get in either.”

Mr Hill said it helped protect native animals and pets from each other.

“When you’re talking about the environment here, it’s quite appropriate to not only protect the domestic animal from the native animals but it also protects native animals from domestic animals,” he said.

“If you knew how many snakes get killed by cats, it dwarfs the amount of cats that get killed.

“You’re protecting them from each other.”
He said the snakes natural prey was also on the decline.

“The more (people) encroach on their territory and the more we expand, the less prey items are available as well,” he said.