Firefighters were called in to wrangle a venomous 1.5m snake that was wandering around the backyard of a family home south of Sydney on Monday evening.
Fire and Rescue NSW (FRNSW) received the distress call about the red-bellied black snake on the loose at a home on Kanandah Rd in Engadine about 6pm.
They said it was difficult to catch the dangerous snake because it was moving in and out of foliage around the property.
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“When we snared the slippery customer, we noticed it was in pain, thanks to a tick attached to its back,” FRNSW Captain Brady Clarke said.
“We were extra cautious, as a venomous snake in a cranky mood can be especially dangerous.”
The FRNSW crew handed the snake over to wildlife rescue organisation, WIRES, for further medical treatment and X-rays today.
Clarke said summer 2023-24 had been a busy snake season in the Sutherland shire.
“We’ve done about five calls this week, so far … we’re mainly encountering diamond pythons, common tree snakes and red-bellied black snakes,” he said.
The Australian Museum said the red-bellied black snake was one of the most common species of snake on the east cost of Australia and responsible for a number of snake bites each year.
It said while it is a shy species of snake, it will deliver a severe bite if it is threatened.
But the museum said the red-bellied black snake was also considered one of the least dangerous of venomous snake species in Australia.
“When approached in the wild, a red-bellied black snake will often freeze to avoid detection, and people may unknowingly get quite close before registering the snake’s presence,” the museum said on its website.
“Further harassment will cause the snake to lash out and deliver a rapid (but often clumsy) bite, and sometimes they may hang on and chew savagely.
“The venom has predominantly anticoagulant and myotoxic effects, and symptoms of envenomation 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.”
FRNSW advises residents not to approach snakes if they pose a danger and to contact triple-0 or WIRES instead.
