As he drifted off to sleep in front of the television on Monday afternoon, Boundary Road resident Jim Everingham had no idea that he would be greeted by a 1.5 metre brown snake when he awoke.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
When he opened his eyes he spotted the snake making its way up the hallway towards his bedroom.
“It was only six feet away from me,” he said.
Mr Everingham’s movements startled the snake and it headed into the bedroom.
“The first thing I worried about was the air conditioning vent.
“We have one in a lot of the rooms and I thought I’d better make sure it didn’t get into the vent otherwise you’d never get it out.
“So I went in and blocked the vent and also the gap in between the floor and the carpet so it didn’t get underneath.
“I was also worried it would get into the cupboard and into a pair of my wife’s shoes. Could you imagine if she went to put a pair on and a snake jumped out?”
Once he blocked off any access the snake may have had to escape, Mr Everingham called the NSW Wildlife Information Rescue and Education Service (WIRES).
“Firstly they sent out a guy who wasn’t real brave so he called for someone more experienced,” he said.
“She was a young girl but she was very brave and coaxed it out by tormenting it with a stick.
“It started to climb up the wall and she put it into one of those bags.”
Mr Everingham believes the snake may have come from the vacant paddock block across the road from his house.
National Parks and Wildlife Area manager for Dubbo Cameron Chaffey said hot temperatures over the past week may have caused snakes to move closer to homes.
“Snakes move around looking for water and also for somewhere that is cooler,” he said.
He said people finding a snake should never disturb it.
He urged people to call WIRES or the National Parks and Wildlife and try to keep a close eye on where the snake is as they wait for help to arrive.
“It is difficult when people call us and we arrive but they don’t know where the snake has gone,” Mr Chaffey said.
“In saying that don’t try and corner it or trap it because that is when you are going to get bitten.”
WIRES’ phone number is 1300 556 686.
For Mr Everingham, the whole incident had a touch of irony - he’d fallen asleep watching snakes on TV.
“About an hour before, I’d been up at my mate’s place and we had been talking about snakes because he’d just come back from Collarenebri.”
“Then I sat down at the TV and I was watching Steve Irwin chasing snakes around Ayers Rock.”
lucy.rowles@ruralpress.com