‘Mystery’: Tradie finds venomous snake in her ute - and just can’t get it out

A tradie has revealed the ridiculous discovery she made in her ute, and she has no idea what to do next.

A tradie has taken to wearing protective gear while driving after discovering a venomous red-bellied black snake living in her car.

Lisa Kournelis, who works in civil construction west of Newcastle, NSW, believes the snake has been living in her ute since March after she left her car door open at a worksite.

Since then, she’s attempted to have the reptile, she’s nicknamed ‘Fluffy’, removed four times but has had no luck.

“I realised (the snake was in my car) when I saw him sitting on my back seat. I was putting a box I got delivered to my workplace in my back seat and he was there and I slammed the door,” Ms Kournelis told The Project on Monday night.

“I was actually finding snake poo in my back seat for about three weeks and I thought it was melted ice cream for whatever reason because that’s what it looked like but I don’t eat ice cream in my back seat,” she joked.

Ms Kournelis said the snake had also been setting off car censors and alarms, leading her to believe her ute was malfunctioning.

Ms Kournelis believes the snake has been living in her car since March. Picture: Channel 10

Four snake catchers have attempted to remove the snake and cameras have been used to search inside the vehicle.

“One catcher at one point had it by the tail but unfortunately he let it go he didn’t want to pull at it because it might hurt the snake so he let it go and he thought it would go straight into the bag but it whipped around and went inside the dash,” she explained.

“I’ve had the actual interior pulled out twice and (had) little wormy cameras go into all the nooks and crannies of the car and they can’t find it. But the next day it’s sitting on the back seat so I don’t know where he’s hiding but it’s a mystery.”

Snake catchers have attempted to remove the snake four times. Picture: Channel 10

Ms Kournelis found it on the back seat of her car. Picture: Channel 10

Ms Kournelis decided to “wing it” and drive with the snake two weeks ago after she called another snake catcher in to attempt to remove the reptile.

“I got someone out to get the snake out and it failed. But I was actually just sick of having my car parked out the front of my workplace for three weeks and I thought my car’s going to get vandalised.

“I thought I’m just going to drive it. I’ll wing it. I don’t know. What’s the worst that could happen? I’ll get bit... I might spew for a few hours and go to hospital it’s fine,” she said.

When Project co-host Steve Price questioned what would happen if the snake attacked her while driving along the freeway, she said she’d simply “deal with it”.

“Look it’s crossed my mind but we’ll deal with it when it happens,” she said.

She said she’s hopeful the snake will be found when she gets her car repaired.

“Hopefully when they cut the side of my car out they’ll find a snake … and (I’ll say) ‘Oh I didn’t know,” she joked.

Ms Kournelis decided to “wing it” and drive with the snake two weeks ago. Picture: Channel 10

In the meantime, she’s been wearing woollen pants and other protective gear after receiving advice from one of the snake catchers.

“I’m very lucky actually that I haven’t been bitten, but if it does bite these woollen work pants that I wear will take most of the venom,” Ms Kournelis earlier told theABC.

Snake catcher Matt Stopford said snakes rarely become trapped in cars and generally only enter a vehicle if a window has been left open.

He said the snake should be removed urgently before it enters its winter dormancy.

“The snake will slow down, he will want to stay in the car because it’s a nice hiding spot to get warm, it’s going to go off its food and probably settle in,” he added.

It comes after a red-bellied black snake was found at a Queensland Bunnings in March.

Stuart McKenzie from Sunshine Coast Snake Catchers was called to the store after staff found something unexpected in the garden section.

A red-bellied black snake was found in Bunnings. Picture: TikTok/@sunnycoastsnakecatchers

After 40 minutes of searching for the red-bellied black snake, Stu found it hidden under pallets of potting mix.

“That’s crazy,” he said after nabbing the poisonous snake by the tail.

“He’s pretty long … You naughty snake, you’re not allowed in Bunnings anymore.”

The snake, which was three-feet in length, was subsequently released back into the wild.

Originally published as ‘Mystery’: Tradie finds venomous snake in her ute - and just can’t get it out