Michael Bonney finds venomous snake in daughter’s pillow in Gympie

A school teacher who moved to Australia 10 years ago, and his 11-year-old daughter, have both survived a close ‘critter’ encounter in their Queensland home. Watch the re-enactment video:

When 11-year-old Emily Bonney woke her father Michael in the very early hours of Wednesday morning and said “something’s in my pillowcase”, he was expecting to shake out a spider, or maybe a cockroach.

The Gympie South State School teacher was not expecting to see what eventually dropped into his bathtub.

Mr Bonney, 51, said he was woken up about 3.30am on June 4, by Emily, who directed him to her room where she said something was inside the pillow she was sleeping on.

“I decided to take (the pillow) into the bathroom so if I emptied it out, whatever little critter that was in there would hopefully stay trapped in the bath,” Mr Bonney said.

“I’ve taken the pillow out, had a quick look, gave it a bit of a shake — nothing.

“Gave it a bit of a firmer shake, and to my surprise, the snake popped into my bathtub and started going a bit crazy.”

The snake was a venomous yellow-faced whip snake.

The yellow-faced whip snake Michael Bonney found in his daughter Emily’s pillowcase in Gympie at 3.30am, June 4.

Mr Bonney said his daughter was “a bit wary of having a look”, and yelled out when she saw the whip snake, which was about 40cm long.

“I think she started to process exactly what was in her pillowcase and started to get a little bit freaked out,” he said.

Mr Bonney said it was Emily who suggested calling a snake catcher, who then came and removed the visitor.

As to how it got into their suburban, low-set home, Mr Bonney said he was “98 per cent sure” the snake had slithered its way through a narrow gap beneath the front door.

Following Wednesday morning’s adventures, he bought a door blocker to prevent any more reptilian incursions.

“I think these snakes are not nocturnal, so I think he came in the daytime and spent the day kind of chilling out and trying to find a nice warm cozy place to sleep,” he said.

“There were so many opportunities for the snake to hurt me or Emily, but it didn’t. I think they’re misunderstood.”

This was despite his initial reaction to discovering the snake, which was “holy s***!”.

“I was shocked, her heart was racing, so I said to her, ‘right, go watch some TV, take your mind off it’.”

Mr Bonney grew up in London but moved to Australia a decade ago.

After his late night brush with one of Australia’s most infamous wildlife, he can now say he’s a true blue Aussie.

Originally published as Michael Bonney finds venomous snake in daughter’s pillow in Gympie