‘A fantastic ability to find entry points.’
5.
A stunning sky-blue Common Tree Snake (Dendrelaphis
punctulata) that climbed into a home through an open
window near some overhanging branches.
6. Mum and the kids certainly got a shock to find this
Carpet Python (M. spilota) hanging out in the playset in the
children’s bedroom.
7. Two male Carpet Pythons engaging in ritual combat
inside a client’s ceiling space, a common sight during the
spring mating season.
5.
6.
7.
difficult but an important part of our job. Blurry photos of
tails can only tell you so much, and rather than have a
client disturb the animal for further photos, we often
Recent heavy rain and flash flooding in the region means
arrive on site with very little idea of what to expect.
that animals are on the move, including plenty of reptiles,
and we've been busy with wandering creatures all day and On this occasion, after passing a security gate we are
night.
directed by guards to the warehouse where staff are
waiting. Having been there before, we exchanged
The work is complicated by the fact that many local snake pleasantries as I got my snake hook and bag from the car.
species can be nocturnal, small, and brownish in colour; From the relative darkness outside, we enter the fluores-
ranging from harmless neonate Carpet Pythons (Morelia cent glow of warehouse lighting and cross the workshop
spilota) to juvenile Eastern Brown Snakes (Pseudonaja floor, winding past the stacks of equipment and storage
textilis), the latter being obviously dangerously venomous. containers. Forklifts and figures in high-visibility safety
While the area does produce a fair number of venomous vests busy themselves around us, giving the bathroom in
snake call-outs during summer, the last time I attended the corner a wide berth. There is a rolled-up towel
this property for a ‘brown snake’, it turned out to be jammed against the bottom of the door to keep the snake
nothing more than a Burton's Legless Lizard (Lialis inside. As usual, it takes a bit of slow, cautious searching -
burtonis). The South-East Queensland region is home to lifting toilet rolls and cardboard boxes - before we find the
over 30 species of snakes, from small fossorial ant-egg or culprit. It’s a juvenile Eastern Brown Snake, about 30cm
lizard eaters to large, highly-venomous hunters and long.
powerful constrictors. Many are extremely variable in
colour and of medical significance, making identification
While these smaller individuals are naturally slower to