A surprise visit from a redbellied black snake shocked staff at Mt Annan Blockbuster

STAFF at Mt Annan Blockbuster were surprised by an unusual customer yesterday as a redbellied black snake made its way into the store for a browse.

The surprise visitor to Blockbuster Mt Annan.

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STAFF At Mt Annan Blockbuster were surprised by an unusual customer yesterday as a redbellied black snake made its way into the store for a browse.

The slippery customer forced the store to briefly close its doors and owner Adrian Smith called in Australian Snake Catchers to safely remove the snake.

Snake catcher Sean Cade arrived on the scene and helped remove the reptile.

“I reckon he was probably after a copy of Snakes on a Plane maybe he wanted to see a relative,” Mr Smith said.

“It’s the first time in 15 years here that we’ve had a snake come in that we know of so it was a bit of a shock.

“He was hanging around near the front door so we decided to close up the shop just to keep people safe.

The snake pokes his head out the door.

“He then decided to stick his head out and so we had a few surprised gatherers outside before he slid out and under the glass panels next to the door.

“It just shows even snakes on a hot day want to grab a movie and enjoy some ice cream

By the time Mr Cade had arrived the snake had attempted to leave the store but was spooked by gathering onlookers and went into hiding into a space under the front window.

“Someone saw him go into the shop and they went inside to tell them,” Mr Cade said.

“They shut the shop for a little bit but when he came out because there were a few interested people standing outside it sort of spooked him a bit and he went under the window panels.”

Mr Cade said it was a bit of a challenge catching the snake as he was moving back and forth in the small space behind the glass panels between the next-door shop and Blockbuster.

“I just put a screwdriver through to make sure he would stop moving away as I didn’t want to grab him and drag him out as that could have hurt him and that’s not what we’re there for,” he said.

The snake hides under the panels.

“After I got him out we relocated him to a more suitable environment.

“He was quite a nice looking snake, his underbelly wasn’t the same colour as you usually see, it was a little more orange.”

Mr Cade said people who encountered a snake should call in a professional to deal with it.

“Ninetyper cent of people of people who are bitten are trying to catch or kill a snake,” he said.

“Call in a professional and try and keep your eyes on the snake from a safe distance so that it’s easy to find.

“Make sure you keep pets and young children away from the snake.”