‘How I feel at Christmas’: Snake’s massive feed stuns social media

An incredible photo of a python post-feed has gone viral, with many questioning what it must have consumed.

This photo of a python digesting a big feed has gone viral on social media. Picture: Sunshine Coast Snake Catchers 24/7.

An eye-catching image of a python digesting what is believed to be a large possum is just one of many incidents between the reptiles and humans this summer as the Sunshine Coast’s wild snake season continues.

Experienced snake catcher Stuart McKenzie, of Sunshine Coast Snake Catchers 24/7, said it was at this point in the season that snakes were looking for larger meals so they could put on weight.

The eye-catching image of a python with a belly full of food had attracted much attention on social media after it was posted by Mr McKenzie’s business.

One commenter said it reminded her of the festive season.

“How I feel at Christmas,” she said.

• Sunshine Coast and Noosa snake catchers reveal craziest catches of the season

“That’s amazing. So cool,” said another commenter.

“If it was a possum, then I’m Santa Claus,” said another, keeping with the festive theme.

Mr McKenzie said this season had been the business’s busiest in its decade of operation.

He said for those who did not want their feathered pets to become a meal, it was important for people enclose bird aviaries and chicken coops with the right kind of chicken wire including the top and bottom of the enclosure.

Residents should also regularly check the wire for breaks, often caused by goannas and foxes trying to get into it.

He also said people were still attempting to catch snakes themselves, which was a big no-no.

Stuart McKenzie of Sunshine Coast Snake Catchers 24/7.

“Even this morning we’ve been to two or three incidents where people, for whatever reason, people have tried to catch the snake themselves,” he said.

“Do not try and catch snakes yourself.

“It’s against the law and it’s also really dangerous.”

A separate coast snake business, Snake Rescue Sunny Coast, had also experienced a busy season.

Snake catcher Ryan Fuller said the heat meant snakes were more active and people were also encroaching on snakes’ bushland homes, as we built into their territory.

“The more we build out, for a time it does push them out into the bush but they do slowly creep back into populated areas because they want to eat the rats and mice,” he said.

He had also been called out to a 3m python that had eaten two chickens during what he called a “consistent” season.

“Days just kind of meld together when you’re on (24 hours a day),” Mr Fuller said.

He and his business partner, Dimity Maxfield, had also this season seen a python that was swallowing a possum and had rescued a baby from its pouch before it was too late.

“I got a red belly black in the kitchen sink too,” Mr Fuller said.

“The woman was doing her dishes and accidentally grabbed it, she was lucky it was really chilled otherwise she would have ended up in emergency.”

He said a python would take days to digest bigger feeds and it was important to leave them if they were digesting something big, or call out a snake catcher to move them.

“Depending on the food item, rats in particular, if you move them the wrong way the bones could injure the snake as they digest,” Mr Fuller said.

Ms Maxfield said it was important to remember snakes were more scared of people than people were scared of them.

Further north in the Wide Bay, a wild snake season has also continued with several people bitten throughout summer.

Two children were taken to hospital in separate incidents with a teen bitten twice as he attempted to free a brown snake that become stuck.