SNAKE FOOTAGE: 'Holy s--- look at that big bastard'

SHANNON Otto got quite the surprise when he noticed a 2.5m python near the sliding doors to his back verandah.

The Sunshine Acres property owner shared video footage of the giant snake with the Chronicle after doing a double take when he spotted it close to the house last week.

Mr Otto's first response to the sighting was: "Holy s--- look at that big bastard."

"I was surprised as I wasn't expecting something like that and woke my wife," the dad said.

"I'm glad it didn't touch my leg as I would have dropped my bundle.

"After admiring it for a moment and letting the kids have a look we took it down to the furthest part of our acreage and released it into the bush."

Mr Otto said he believed the snake could have slithered up the back stairs of the dog ramp.

Snake handler Roy McGrath said while pythons were completely harmless snakes, if you are ever bitten it's important to get a tetanus shot.

"They eat rats, mice, birds, the lot, so you never know," Mr McGrath said.

In the past week Mr McGrath said they had been called to about seven jobs on the Fraser Coast including three eastern browns, two red-bellied black snakes and a received a number of reports of carpet snakes.

Mr McGrath said there were reports of a Maryborough woman's dog being bitten and killed by what was believed to be a baby eastern brown on Monday.

"When they (eastern browns) hatch they've got enough venom to kill a man," he warned.

"They are very quick and aggressive so don't go picking them up."

Earlier in the month a giant carpet python was lucky a Fraser Coast labourer checked his woodchipper before turning it on full throttle.

Gary Lawlor was working on his Nikenbah property after this week's heavy rain when he discovered the sleeping reptile, just shy of 6ft long, coiled up inside.

NEED A SNAKE CATCHER?

Roy McGrath: 0418 745 329

Leigh: 0403 176 145

Fraser Coast Snake Catchers: 0403 382 460.