They make look cute, but don’t be fooled by the itty bitty snakes cruising around the Coast this summer — some are as deadly as a fully grown adult.
It’s hatching season which means swarms of snakes may be slithering through your backyard or poking themselves into impossible crevices in your house and car.
Stuart McKenzie, from Sunshine Coast Snake Catchers, said baby snakes were more likely to sneak under doors or through window cracks because of their small size.
They could be found hiding in the most unlikely locations and make people wonder whether they’ve come across a snake or lizard.
Sunshine Coast Snake Catchers recently relocated a baby brown snake that had inserted itself inside a set of bathroom scales.
A non-venomous baby keelback (pictured above) was retrieved from a local facility and was so small it curled up to the size of a 50 cent piece.
And one local mechanic got a miniature surprise by an infant serpent while he was fixing a car.
“The smaller snakes are usually the ones that get in the house just because they can squeeze under doors and go through the sides of roller doors and stuff like that,” said Stu.
“They can basically squeeze into the smallest spots and they can get up under fridges and into ovens and all sorts of areas where you think they couldn’t get to but they can definitely squeeze in because of their size.
“I caught a baby snake out of a car vent, the aircon vents. They dropped the car off at the mechanic and the mechanic rang me and was like, ‘Yeah man, there’s a snake in the car,’.
“And I caught a brown snake out of a bathroom scale, up in the mechanics of it; it had got underneath it and edged itself in one of the little holes.
“So they do get inside the house but it’s more likely they’re just cruising through the backyard and…keep going and you never knew they were there.”
However Stu said not all baby snakes were as harmless as the keelback. In fact, an eastern brown snake, for example, could pack as much punch in its bite as a grown one.
“It depends on the species but a little brown snake is highly venous and basically do similar damage to an adult,” he said.
“The venom toxicity would be very similar; the properties might be slightly different but the actual toxicity and how bad it is for you would be quite similar.
“It’s definitely something to be wary about.”
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Stu said most snake species laid eggs but some gave birth to live young.
“A red belly can have 10 to 30 young and pythons 10 to 25 eggs although it does vary depending on the female — how old she is or if it’s her first time as a mum she might have less or if it’s been a little while she have more, it does vary slightly.”
If you do come across a juvenile snake, they’re likely to be heading out on a solo adventure.
“Usually there’s no parental care; they just go off in all their different ways,” he said.
“At that small size, their main aim is to find shelter or look for food to try and grow as quick as possible.
“They kind of just spread out and go their different ways and start their life and try not to get eaten by something bigger.”
Pythons are more likely to be found sitting on their eggs or hanging around nearby, as a recent discovery of 24 hatchlings proved.
- Related story: Snake catchers awed by dozens of hatching pythons
“If you find random eggs from another snake that’s pretty rare because they hide them in areas where you can’t really see them; it’s pretty rare to find anything else other than carpet python eggs,” he said.
“Red bellies give birth to live young in a membrane sack but it’s pretty rare to see that happen whereas pythons we come across sitting on eggs quite regularly.”
Stu advised people to stay alert and if they see a snake to call a catcher.
