Jess Hardiman
A family were left in shock after making a horrifying discovery under their baby’s cot, saying they ‘couldn't get out of the room quick enough’ when they noticed what was there.
There are many things we can do to protect children in the home, whether it’s a door lock on a cupboard stacked with cleaning supplies, plug socket covers in every room or those stair gates that often prove as tricky for adults as they do for kids... or is that just me?
But sometimes there are dangers that we can’t predict – as one family found out when they stumbled on a terrifying discovery in the baby’s room.
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Speaking to Nine’s NBN News, the unnamed mum said: “I just panicked. I was on the phone at the time and I panicked.
“I couldn’t get out of the room quick enough.”
What’d she’d found at her home in Port Stephens, New South Wales, was a venomous red bellied black snake, which are native to eastern Australia.
The mum added: “I just couldn't imagine if my little girl had been bitten or anything while she was asleep – because she was asleep in here an hour before I’d found the snake.”
According to the Australian Museum, symptoms include bleeding and/or swelling at the bite site, nausea, vomiting, headache, abdominal pain, diarrhoea, sweating, local or general muscle pain and weakness, and red-brown urine.
Thankfully, the family called experts at Tilligerry Reptile Relocation Services, who were able to help move the snake.
Posting about the job on Facebook, the company urged people to be ‘careful’ as the hot weather was driving snakes indoors.
"Red belly black snake is kids bedroom hiding under the cot, people have to be careful these days with the weather they are coming inside a lot more ‘cause they’re trying to find somewhere cooler and all the habitat is being destroyed,” the post said.
“Please people just keep your eyes peeled and if you see a snake inside keep eyes on it from a distance and ring a licenced snake catcher."
Snake catcher Craig Regan told NBN News that Tilligerry Reptile Relocation Services relocated the snake this week.
“She’s sort of lucky that she did see it when she did, because things could have turned out a lot different,” he said.
Regan said he’s been having one phone call a day to remove snakes from inside homes, partly due to intense summer heat, having also recently visited a retirement village to deal with a venomous bandy-bandy.
"It’s very unusual for a bandy-bandy to be where it was,” he added.
“It was hiding in underneath clothes, like, in an actual wardrobe.”
NBN News said snake catchers believe that, along with the hot weather, snakes may be increasingly heading indoors due to development and infrastructure projects encroaching on their habitat.