Sunshine Coast Snake Catchers 24/7 removes red-bellied black snake from office desk

Was it stalking a “mouse” or seeking a mate? A highly venomous red-bellied black snake has been found slithering over the desk of a Qld business, as experts warn of a huge spike in numbers.

This just might be every office worker’s worst nightmare.

A highly venomous snake was found sprawled across the desk of a Sunshine Coast business, amid a busy start to the snake season in Queensland.

Experienced snake catcher Stuart McKenzie, of Sunshine Coast Snake Catchers 24/7 said his business received a call-out to a red-bellied black snake that was found across a desk of the Bridgestone service centre at Marcoola.

A red belly black snake was found on the desk of a business at Marcoola on the Sunshine Coast. Photo: Sunshine Coast Snake Catchers 24/7

“Our phone was running hot and we get a call in where a guy was like I’ve got a snake on the desk at work,” Mr McKenzie told The Courier-Mail.

“I was like, ‘righto’, and he was saying it was a black snake and I was like ‘yeah, right’.

“[Snake catcher] Heather went out there to catch it and she obviously took that photo, which was quite a surprise.

“It certainly stopped work for a bit until we got there, that’s for sure.”

The owner of Bridgestone service centre Marcoola Kai Faichney told The Courier-Mail it is not something you see every day.

“We just went to use the front computer and then we just noticed it sitting on top of the phone and the laptop,” he said.
“It was pretty scary, I didn’t want any of my boys to come in and touch it or anything like that, I just wanted it out of the shop ASAP.”
Mr Faichney added that the snake looked like it meant business.

“It was wrapped up around the phone trying to make some calls and tried to punch a few numbers into the EFTPOS machine as well,” he said.

“It was a very placid snake, but yeah I didn’t want it here.”

Mr McKenzie said the call-out comes amid a busy start to the season following a scorching end to winter in Queensland.

“The breeding season has started, so a lot of males are on the move, and then if males run into each other, they’ll fight each other in combat over females,” he said.

“It always starts like mid August, like mid to late August, but this year, it started with a bang.

“That last week of August, there was seven days, where it was possibly the busiest seven days we’ve ever had in a row.

“It was like summer, we were doing summer numbers, in terms of the amount of jobs we were doing.”

The frightening image of the snake on the desk was posted to social media, where it attracted a host of comments.

“PTSD right there nope I ain’t going back to that office,” one person commented.

“Here we are worried that AI will take jobs,” another person commented.

“I quit,” a different person commented.

For removal of snakes contact your nearest snake specialist.

Originally published as Sunshine Coast Snake Catchers 24/7 removes red-bellied black snake from office desk