North Brisbane and Moreton’s snake hotspots of 2020 revealed

From kids’ playrooms to toilets and everything in between, Brisbane snake catchers reveal the weirdest places snakes are slithering into this breeding season. SEE IF YOUR SUBURB IS A SNAKE HOTSPOT

Bianca Hrovat

3 min read

November 9, 2020 - 10:00AM

Quest Newspapers

North

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Snake season has slithered into Brisbane’s north, where an onslaught of suburban sightings have snake catchers run off their feet.

Josh Castle from Josh’s Snake Catching and Relocation said he’s had to deal with upwards of ten snakes every single day during this year’s breeding season.

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Josh Castle with one of his catches, which he will go on to release, unharmed, into the surrounding bushland.

Most concerningly, he said there has been a marked increase in sightings of venomous snakes, such as the world’s most deadly snake, the eastern brown.

“I’ve seen a lot more eastern browns and red belly black snakes,” Mr Castle said.

“I pulled an eastern brown out of a kids play room at Morayfield, it was hiding behind the TV.

“It slithered over the grandmother’s leg as she was playing with the child, she’s very lucky it didn’t bite her.”

Sssslam on the brakes! This snake Josh found was hiding in a car, a strangely common spot for snakes to settle in.

Mr Castle himself is bitten “all of the time”, but usually by non-venomous species. Even those, however, can deal a fair bit of damage.

“Adult snakes have about 80 teeth, and almost 80 of those teeth are penetrating your skin,” he said.

“You get used to not reacting after the first few … You instinctively want to pull away, but pulling away can hurt yourself more when you have all of those teeth stuck in you.”

Can you spot it? A red belly black snake hides behind a dog's water bowl.

These bites usually occur when the snake has snuck into somewhere odd inside a home, such as a heat lamp in a bathroom (where he saw a snake poke its head through the fixture) or the bonnet of a car.

It is surprisingly common for them to also be found in dishwashers, toilets, airconditioning units and sinks, according to Mr Castle.

“They don’t go there on purpose, it’s usually an accident,” he said.

“It’s what happens when they have a fight with a cat out on the street and they want to escape, so they go through the sewerage.

“Then the only way back up is through the plumbing.”

As if you needed another reason not to exercise, this red belly black snake was found hiding in a north Brisbane family's treadmill.

Mr Castle once wrestled with a 2.5 metre carpet python who had nestled in a toilet’s S-bend.

“It was incredible to see how that size of a snake could fit in such a small space,” he said.

For north Brisbane residents wanting to minimise their chances of encountering a snake, Mr Castle suggests snake-proofing chicken coops, regularly mowing the lawn and clearing it of any items that “hold humidity”, such as tin rooves, as these are attractive spots for female snakes to lay their eggs.

Should residents come face-to-face with a dangerous snake, Mr Castle urged them not to run away.

“The best thing to do is call a snake catcher and then stand still and watch it,” he said.

“Snakes are scared of us, and if it knows you’ll there it’ll stiffen up and freeze, so that when the catcher arrives they can easily locate it.

“Five to ten metres away is a safe distance, and they won’t charge out and chase you.”

Steven Brown from Brisbane North Snake Catchers and Relocation said his top three suburbs for call-outs in the Moreton region were Caboolture, Morayfield and Narangba.

Mr Brown said he had been called out to a lot of eastern brown sightings this season.

“They’ve been some of the biggest I’ve seen. I don’t know why that is, but possibly it was the unusually warm winter meaning more food for them.’’ he said.

“There were fewer call-outs last year because of the drought.’’