Urgent warning to Aussies to ‘double check’ inside your barbecue
Aussies have been urged to check their barbecues after one homeowner was horrified to find a monster snake tucked away underneath the grill.
The Queensland resident made the chilling discovery, when he went to put the gas bottle back inside the barbecue.
Footage shows Stuart McKenzie from Sunshine Coast Snake Catchers 24//7, removing the carpet python which had become stuck inside.
Moments later, Mr McKenzie lifts the two-metre long reptile out of the barbecue.
‘Out you come… get you out of the barbecue and back into the bush,’ Mr McKenzie says.
He explained to the resident the snake is only an infant – despite it’s size.
‘This one’s still only… probably three or four year old,’ he said.
‘He’s not a bad length…this one’s probably over six-foot… six-and-a-half feet’.
Mr McKenzie said the animal can grow up to as long as three metres.
He warned people to ‘double check’ their outdoor cooking areas before using, as he has been called out to a number of homes to remove snakes that were found inside.
‘The barbecue is essentially a perfect spot for snakes to hang out because if there’s leftover food scraps often the rats come in, so snakes will come in after the rodents,’ he told Yahoo News Australia.
It comes as the weather begins to warm up across Australia with experts predicting an early snake season across the country.
Billy Collett, Operations Manager at the Australian Reptile Park, said Australia is in for a long snake season due to the early onset of warmer conditions.
‘We’re going to see juveniles earlier this season,’ he told Daily Mail Australia recently.
‘We’ve come out of two unbelievably wet years where.. snakes didn’t breed as much’.
‘This season we should see a lot of babies’.
