Mackay rental nightmare: Snake infestation forces family from home

A mother says her rental property is infested with baby snakes and she is too scared to go home. A snake catcher says she has never seen anything like it as the mum pleads for a new place for her family. SEE THE PHOTOS

A Mackay region mother is living in fear of what is lurking inside the walls of her rental home.

Deanne Russell is battling a tide of common tree snakes that hatched inside the walls of her Walkerston home and made their escape through the house, slithering over curtain rods and across floors, and making their way upstairs to what was once her “sanctuary”.

She has seen about 26 snakes since January 30 when the first one made its appearance, and the incursion has forced her from the home she shared with her husband and son.

“There’s snakes coming out of everywhere; I can’t sleep, I can’t sit anywhere,” Mrs Russell said.

Mrs Russell said she reported the first of the snakes to her real estate agent, Vision, on Sunday, January 30.

Within four days, she had caught 13, and it was initially believed they were coming from inside the airconditioning unit attached to the wall.

But inspections found the snakes were coming from between the double-brick walls, and they just kept coming.

She said she caught several of them, put them in a bucket and took them to her real estate agent in Mackay to show them what she was living with.

Mrs Russell said the real estate agent arranged for a snake catcher to assess the infestation and how best to remove the reptiles and stop them reappearing.

Mackay and Sarina Snake Catcher Heather Lampe said she had never seen anything like it in her long career removing reptiles from private properties in the region.

She said it was her best guess the snakes had moved in when the house sat vacant for a period of time, and laid eggs inside the brick foundations.

A typical common tree snake will lay and hatch about 13 snakes, suggesting at least two nests were laid inside the walls.

“Normally what will happen with baby snakes … when the babies hatch our of the eggs, they disperse in all different directions,” Ms Lampe said.

“They come out one at a time and all seem to go in different directions – their survival depends on it.”

For Mrs Russell, that means across her floors, furnishing and, she fears, her furniture.

She has left the home and stayed a few nights in a motel last week “just to get a decent night’s sleep”, and returned to the property after the snake catcher and repairs to seal the floors was done.

“That night, I went to work, came back home and convinced myself it was all good but within a metre of walking in, one was raring up at me,” she said.

She has since been staying at her mum’s two-bedroom unit.

She has put her cat into a cattery to keep it safe.

But it is a short-term fix, with paying $450 a week rent as well as for a hotel or motel not financially viable.

Mrs Russell said her real estate agent had agreed to break the lease early and help her family find a new home, but has been unsuccessful so far in Mackay’s tight rental market.

“We’ve only been in that house since November 17,” she said.

“The owner can understand the situation but I cannot go back into that house.”

Mrs Russell said she, her son and husband were all employed and were desperately wanting a new rental home in the region.

She said location did not matter as she lived in Walkerston and drove to Mackay for her retail work.

“Even if they did something now, I could never go back,” she said.

“This is in our lounge room, in our kitchen, upstairs in the bathroom.

“Upstairs was my safe haven.

“I can’t afford to be in a motel and pay the rent we’re paying.”