Snakes in the grass – and under the piano, by the pool and in prison
The phone rings. It’s the local jail. There’s a snake in a cell. Within a few hours, snakes have also been spotted at a school, under a piano in a private garage and near a lagoon-like swimming pool at a retirement home. Customers want them gone.
Business has never been better for Stuart McKenzie, who runs a snake-trapping service on the Sunshine Coast, a leafy enclave along miles of pristine beach in the vast Australian state of Queensland. On the busiest days, he can receive more than 35 calls about troublesome snakes.
Queensland is home to the largest number of snake species in Australia: about 120. Of these, two-thirds are venomous and a handful are fatal. Across Australia, fatalities from snakebites remain extremely rare – around two per year – and in Queensland the reptiles are simply a part of life.
In the cooler months of the year – historically April to September – snakes become sluggish and may not eat, drink, defecate or even move for weeks. But as the world warms and southern Queensland’s climate shifts from subtropical to tropical, this hibernation period is shortening, meaning increasing conflict between humans and animals.
“Not only do snakes become more active earlier in the year and stay active longer into the year, but it also means they stay active longer into the night,” says Bryan Fry, professor of biology at New York University. Queensland. On nights with temperatures above 28 or 29 degrees Celsius, or 82 degrees Fahrenheit, snakes will remain active all night, he added.
Mr McKenzie, 35, of Sunshine Coast Snake Catchers 24/7, says his winter break is getting shorter.
On a recent job, a four-foot brown snake (the second most venomous snake species in the world, despite its understated name) was wedged between a screen and a window and had to be removed. Simpler was the request to remove a non-venomous carpet python, the body of which had intricate patterns with whorls and whorls, curled up in the depths of a shed. (The cost of snake removal starts at 154 Australian dollars, or about $100.)
Snake catchers travel light. In normal work they may not carry much more than a metal hook, used to gently poke a snake out from under furniture or push it into place, and a large cotton bag used to house snakes. With any job, the idea is to cause as little damage or disruption to the snake as possible – and then take it somewhere where it is less likely to get into trouble.
With the Sunshine Coast’s population expected to increase by more than 50 percent to around half a million people in the 25 years to 2041, deforestation is a major threat. happens with speed. More and more houses are being built, and many snakes that once lived in native bushland are finding refuge – and a reliable source of food and water – in houses intended for humans.
Most collisions occur without incident. But fear and misinformation are still on the rise, Mr McKenzie said, as is the persistent perception among older generations of Australians that “the only good snake is a dead snake.”
Mr. McKenzie can catch highly venomous reptiles with his bare hands and a balletic fluidity. But he also has to be almost as dexterous to confuse people. Customers can be extremely afraid of snakes, and when passersby see him release a healthy specimen into the wild after it has been removed from a home, they may react with fear, anger or tears.
Like kangaroos, koalas and other Australian wildlife, snakes are protected by law and play a vital role in the ecosystem by keeping pests at bay. Researchers from Macquarie University found that by eating mice and rats, the benefits of snakes to farmers far outweigh the potential costs of having a venomous creature on site.
When a small and harmless tree snake was removed from her bedroom, Doris Hyde, 96, explained how she panicked and instinctively hit the animal with a blast of fly spray. “I thought it might get sick,” she said.
“You can’t do that,” Mr. McKenzie said, because it could injure the animal. “Call us next time,” he added, as he rinsed the creature under the kitchen tap.
For every snake that can be peacefully bagged and taken far away, there are many more that disappear before a snake catcher can even arrive. During one such fruitless job, Mr. McKenzie walked through some bushes at a retirement home, pushing aside leaves and looking deep into an outbuilding near the pool. The sun was setting and he raised an arm to wipe his forehead.
“Just long, sweaty days,” he said, “hunting extremely dangerous snakes.”
Unwell snakes are being cared for at the nearby Australia Zoo, established by the conservationist Steve Irwin. Last Thursday, Mr McKenzie brought three injured pythons to the clinic. Two accepted an inspection with relative grace, but the third skipped across the floor and jerked its head as if to bite Mr. McKenzie’s left knee, while holding the tail firmly in his hand.
“He’s grumpy pants,” says Katie Whittle, the vet.
Mr McKenzie’s company has been featured on local television and has a large social media following TikTok, Instagram And Facebookwith posts showing videos and photos of snakes eating impossibly large possums, hanging out in places they shouldn’t be and generally getting into ophidian mischief.
Mr. McKenzie, who employs a social media manager to maintain a strict posting schedule, tries to strike a balance between “nice, easy catches of carpet pythons,” he said, “and defensive scary catches of brown snakes” to keep people off discourage you from handling snakes yourself without proper training.
In his current job for the past seven years, Mr McKenzie previously worked as a reptile keeper at Australia Zoo. He has had blue-tongued lizards as pets since childhood, but was initially wary of snakes and had little interest in handling them. It was only after working with them at the zoo every day, he said, that he thought, “Gosh, these things are actually really cool.”
In recent years his business has expanded to include seven snake catchers and dozens of subcontractors in Queensland. Still, the hours can be brutal.
“It’s one of those jobs that can take its toll,” he said.