Snake Catching and the Serpents of
South East Queensland.
Janne Torkkola is a sleep deprived zoology/genetics graduate who
operates a snake removal service in Brisbane and enjoys writing and
conducting a wildlife science podcast in his very limited spare time....
The phone rings and I'm instantly awake. After years of It's 2:00 am on a warm, early summer morning in
late night call-outs for snakes, lizards, turtles, various Brisbane. There's fog on the road, and steam rises from
mammals or birds, and sometimes just bizarre questions at the asphalt to condense on the windshield, so I'm
even more bizarre hours, it's become kind of an autono- constantly adjusting the airflow, temperature, and wipers
mous response to take a breath, switch on the bedside to see clearly enough to negotiate the empty streets. I’m
lights, grab a pen and pad, and try not to sound overly driving towards the industrial suburb of Wacol, southeast
sleepy or grumpy while seeing what comes next. This of the city centre. Inside a warehouse, the late-shift staff
time it's a call-out, possibly for a venomous snake. have spotted a small, brown-coloured snake in the
bathroom.
1.
2.
‘Nocturnal, small and brownish in colour’.
1. A harmless juvenile Carpet Python (Morelia spilota).
2. A weakly-venomous Brown Tree Snake (Boiga
irregularis).
3.
3.
Burton’s Legless Lizard (Lialis burtonis) can often be mistaken
as a snake by members of the public.
4. A highly-venomous young Eastern Brown Snake (Pseudonaja
textilis). As juveniles, these snakes are primarily nocturnal lizard
hunters. All images courtesy Janne Torkkola.
4.