This snake was roughly 50 to 60 centimetres long.
A family in Australia got the shock of their lives after their young child found a deadly snake slithering underneath their Christmas tree on Friday. As per Newsweek, Drew Godfrey, a snake catcher in Queensland, was called to the property after getting a call from the boy's mother to say an eastern brown snake was slithering through the living room of her house. Notably, eastern brown snakes are the second most venomous land snake in the world and are found throughout eastern and southern Australia, according to Mr Godfrey.
Drew Godfrey, of Hervey Bay Snake Catchers, shared footage of the incident on his YouTube page. "This is the second most venomous terrestrial (land) snake on earth," he told the outlet. "It's the species that is responsible for the most fatalities in Australia out of any other snake [...] If someone, especially the kids were to accidentally step on it, then there is a high probability that the snake will bite," Mr Godfrey added.
Watch the video below:
This snake was roughly 50 to 60 centimetres long, and is juvenile, the snake catcher confirmed. "(This) is actually a very dangerous size to handle being so small and so fast," he said, adding, "It (snake) can get to my hand quicker than an adult. Juveniles are also more skittish and quick to react".
Mr Godfrey believes that the reptile had gotten into the house by going under the far door as there was a gap along the bottom. "Snakes follow walls and edges along as they feel safe and will often head for the corner of a room if they feel trapped of threatened so they have multiple walls to protect them. The tree happened to be in a corner and with all of the presents around the bottom this became the safest and most natural feeling place in the house to try to hide out from the big animals getting around (humans)," he told the outlet.
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However, Mr Godfrey went on to say that despite their fearsome reputation, eastern brown snakes are not aggressive and will only bite if they feel threatened. "(It) would rather flee than fight and it won't bite for no reason. As long as no one tries to interfere with the animal they are safe. Snakes are scared of us, that's why it tried to hide among the presents. It doesn't want to bite anyone but if it gets harassed it will defend itself," Mr Godfrey said.
The snake catcher also revealed he's had a higher-than-normal number of house calls of late due to the hotter and dryer conditions.
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