The most important thing to do if you come across a snake is to ensure the
safety of your family, co-workers or pets.
If the snake is indoors, make sure everyone moves out of the room, close the door if
possible and place something like a towel along the bottom of the door to prevent
the snake escaping the room. Next step is to call a snake catcher.
If the snake is outside, observing the snake from a distance while calling a snake
catcher is a great idea. Often a snake seen in the back yard has moved on to be
several houses away by the time the snake catcher arrives. But always keep
the safety of yourself and those around you in mind.
Many Australian snakes are of a very similar colouring and patterning making positive
identification a difficult task. While identifying a large carpet python is usually not
too difficult a task, some of the smaller snakes can require a count of the scales
across their back or close examination of the scales on their head to be correctly
identified and this can be the difference between a harmless or lethal bite!
It's for the above mentioned reasons that it's not wise to try and catch or trap a
snake, also we may have some highly toxic snakes in Brisbane and Ipswich, but those
snakes are also quite fragile and attemps to catch a snake can cause injury to the
animal, which is something we want to avoid as much as we do a person being
injured.
I hold a permit issued by the Department of Environment and Resource Management
that allows me to relocate the common snakes of south east Queensland if they are
a threat to human health and wellbeing. All snakes that are caught are released on
the same day as capture, in a more suitable area, where they will be free to go
about their business without crossing paths with humans.