Siam the 4.5m python is Toowoomba's friendly giant

IT'S so big it could eat a wallaby and crush a man. A pet snake living in Highfields is thought to be one of the biggest in the Toowoomba region.

Siam the giant python.

IT'S so big it could eat a wallaby and crush a man. A pet snake living in Highfields is thought to be one of the biggest in the Toowoomba region.

Siam the scrub python is 4.5m long and weighs more than 20kg.

According to his owner Rynsly Mann, Siam is a friendly giant.

The reptile eats rats, chickens and rabbits but can also devour pigs.

Visitors to Mr Mann's Highfields house are usually shocked when they see the python in its specially-built and humidified cabinet.

But Mr Mann said the snake soon won over guests.

HUGE: Rynsly Mann with his snake Siam. Picture: Contributed

"My partner brought around work colleagues a couple of weeks ago and when they saw it they freaked out," he said.

"But it wasn't long before he was lying over the girls' shoulders."

Mr Mann has always loved reptiles and chose the python because they are the largest snakes that could legally be owned in Australia.

In zoos the snakes, which are endemic to northern Queensland, have been recorded up to 6m long.

Dave Wiedman from Toowoomba Snake Catchers 24/7 said the pythons were not recommended for amateurs.

"Normally you need two people to handle them, because if they get a hold of you, you can't get away.

"But once you get to know their personalities, you can get away with it by yourself."

Mr Mann said the 15-year-old snake had only bitten him once leaving him with a black eye.

Once he left the cage open and the snake escaped, but after knocking things over and investigating the house, the nosey snake returned to the cage on its own volition.

Originally published as Siam the 4.5m python is Toowoomba's friendly giant