Record heatwave driving snakes from the bush into homes

Experts have warned that unusually warm weather is set to bring out a slew of snakes across Australia. 

On Wednesday a deadly brown snake was caught hiding inside a Queensland couple’s bed, while just days before another serpent was found lurking in a Gold Coast family’s toilet.

Melbourne catcher Mark ‘Snake Hunter’ Pelley told Daily Mail Australia he deals with hundreds of snake sightings each year and that number was only likely to increase.

Melbourne catcher Mark ‘Snake Hunter’ Pelley (pictured) told Daily Mail Australia he deals with hundreds of snake sightings each year and that number was only likely to increase

Mr Pelley said that while Melbourne’s recent string of bad weather had delayed the start of the snake season, the upcoming spring sunshine would soon bring them out.

‘They come out of brumation – what we call reptile hibernation – and they start looking for food, water and mates,’ he said. 

‘We’ve had a slow start to the season in Melbourne because it has been so cold, but last week I still had four call outs.’

He said that unusually warm weather meant snakes were coming out earlier and that they were being seen in bigger numbers.

‘I believe snake numbers are increasing in urban places, because there is more food and less threats to them,’ Mr Pelley said.

‘As the population spreads out there are more rodents and water sources, as well as shelters in backyards, so it is perfect conditions for them.’ 

On Wednesday a deadly brown snake (pictured) was caught hiding inside a Queensland couple’s bed, with a heatwave across Australia expected to bring out more 

Stewart Lalor of Elite Snake Catching Services was called out to deal with the snake (pictured), saying ‘when I got there, the snake had quickly moved up to the couple’s bed and I eventually found it under their blanket’

It comes as a couple in their 30s got the shock of their lives after a highly venomous brown snake was found lurking in their bed.

Stewart Lalor of Elite Snake Catching Services attended the pair’s property in Murarrie, South of Brisbane around 10am Wednesday.

‘When I got there, the snake had quickly moved up to the couple’s bed and I eventually found it under their blanket,’ Mr Lalor told Daily Mail Australia. 

Just days earlier a brown tree snake was also caught hiding in a toilet, with Gold Coast Snake Catchers posting the incident online.

‘Imagine waking up in the morning, and going to do what you’ve got to do and there’s a snake hiding under the rim of the toilet,’ the snake catcher said in the video.   

Just days earlier a brown tree snake was also caught hiding in a toilet (pictured), with Gold Coast Snake Catchers posting the incident online

Mr Pelley said snakes could find there way into many small crevices, with one call-out he attended involving a red-bellied black snake that had slithered inside a car’s dashboard

For Mr Pelley however, the most common snakes he deals with are Eastern Tiger and Eastern Brown snakes, which rank as the fifth and second most dangerous in the world respectively.

He said the snakes could find there way into small crevices, with one call-out he attended involving a red-bellied black snake that had slithered inside a car’s dashboard.

But homes remained one of the most common places for them to be found, with Mr Pelley recalling a case were a newlywed couple opened the door to their home to find a Tiger snake in the entryway.

With warmer weather conditions across Australia already this spring, Mr Pelley said he is anticipating a jump in the number of call outs.

Sydney, which normally averages 21 degrees through September is in for a 28 degree day Friday, before jumping up to 33 on Saturday.

And Brisbane is expected to sit in the mid 30s over the weekend, well above their average of 24 degrees. 

Homes remain one of the most common places for serpents, such as the red-bellied black snake pictured, to be found, with Mr Pelley saying he expected a jump in call outs now the weather is warming up