A slippery but “chill” new RSL member has been described by staff as a “very lucky little snake” by safely making his way into the club.
The 2m python, affectionately named Monty by staff, was discovered early on Thursday morning in the club’s outdoor smoking area.
Maroochy RSL’s head of marketing Tracey Boeck said Monty was found having a little “me time” in one of the plants.
“He was discovered by our lovely plant care people who come and do all the nice tropical plants around the venue,” she said.
“They saw our little friend curled up in one of the pot plants just having a little chill.
“They certainly got a surprise.”
The club’s operations team soon called Dimity Maxfield and Ryan Fuller from Snake Rescue Sunny Coast to assess Monty and give the staff some advice.
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“They came out to gently relocate him somewhere safe so he doesn’t get run over, because we are surrounded by busy roads at the club,” Ms Boeck said.
“They said he’s probably been disturbed by someone while he was sleeping somewhere else and that’s how he’s ended up coming inside for a bit of shelter.
“They checked him over and he’s all healthy, which was great to hear.”
Ms Boeck said the staff were quite calm and taken with their temporary new friend.
“Someone did give him a little pat because he was quite chilled out, placid and friendly – and he said Monty felt very cold to touch, but it has been freezing,” she said.
According to Mr Fuller, getting a call-out to that busy area of Maroochydore was unusual for the snake-catching couple.
“He was right in the middle of Maroochydore, which we do get called out to every now and then, but the fact there was barely any bushland at all was interesting,” he said.
“He was close to a main road, so there was a chance that he could have been hit at any point.
“He could have been there for a couple of days, or he could have just been spotted.”
He said Monty was a coastal carpet python, which was an extremely common snake species in the region.
“So it’s not really surprising that we found this specific snake in that deep residential, industrial area,” he said.
He said even though it was winter, snakes were still on the move on sunny days.
“Snakes don’t go into a period of hibernation, they go into a period of brumation – which means when it cools down the snakes will be sleeping more,” he said.
“But if there’s any day where it warms up, the snakes will go out and grab something to eat and drink. Then when it cools down again, they’ll go straight back to sleep and this will repeat all winter.”
Ms Boeck said the Snake Rescue Sunny Coast team was fantastic and professional.
“Afterwards they reported back saying they’d taken him to a very nearby conservation area, but that he was nice and safe and away from people as well as cats and dogs and cars and all of those nasties,” she said.
“He’ll live his best life now.”
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