A wrangler who was called to remove a red-bellied back snake hiding in the roof of a family’s home has shared an impressive photo of the venomous reptile.
Queensland man Luke Huntley shared a photo of the 1.7metre red-bellied snake in a striking position to his Facebook page Snake Catchers Noosa on Monday.
Mr Huntley said he had been called to the home in Cooroy, on the Sunshine Coast, earlier this year after a woman found the snake in her ceiling storage space.
He released it in nearby bushland, explaining it was important to keep snakes near their natural habitat to avoid them dying of shock.
Luke Huntley posted a photo (pictured) to his Facebook page, Snake Catcher Noosa after the successful relocation of a 5.5ft red bellied black snake from a woman’s roof in Cooroy, QLD
‘Generally when you catch and release a snake, release locations are really important,’ Mr Huntley told Daily Mail Australia.
‘I took it far enough away that it won’t come back, but not too far away that it would die of shock.
‘If you relocate a snake from near the sand dunes, and its spent its whole life growing up in the sand dunes you can’t put it in a completely different environment’.
Mr Huntley warned residents on the Sunshine Coast to keep an eye out for snakes as breeding season approaches in September and November.
‘Snake season is definitely coming and we have had a bit of a hot snap here on the Sunshine Coast and there is definitely heaps of snakes moving around,’ he said.
‘Often in August on the warmer days boys start coming out looking for the girls.’
The reptile wrangler (pictured holding his pet red belly) warned Queensland residents of the upcoming snake season, as the hot weather and September to November breeding season comes closer
Mr Huntley said it was a myth that venomous snakes couldn’t climb.
‘(Red bellied snakes) prefer to hide around creeks and dams and won’t need to climb, however they definitely do climb when they need to and are quite good at it,’ Mr Huntley said.
Social media users were stunned by the photo of the huge snake.
‘This is a brilliant photo. Imagine having that in your roof, actually lets not,’ one person wrote.
‘That is one of the most majestic shots I have ever seen of an red-bellied black,’ added another.
The expert capturer (pictured) also dispelled a common myth, saying that venomous snakes do climb and are quite good at it
Luke pictured with fellow snake enthusiast, Chloe run Snake Catcher Noosa and relocate venomous pythons and reptiles every day
