Snake takes a summer siesta inside Tuggeranong home

A Tuggeranong resident has received quite the shock after finding a snake curled up inside his reclining armchair.

The owner of the Monash property was relaxing in his living room on Monday afternoon when his dog became fixated with one of the chairs in the room.

Keen to find out what was intriguing his furry friend, he tilted back the recliner where he revealed a red-bellied black snake curled up within the inner mechanics of the chair.

Gavin Smith from ACT Snake Removals was called to the home shortly after, just in time, because the snake was already on the move.

“I tipped the first one over and it wasn’t there and then went to the next one, tipped it over, and there was a metre long red-bellied black snake all tangled up.”

“It had actually moved between the two lounges.”

Parts of Canberra reached up to 31 degrees on Monday.

Mr Smith said it’s likely the slithery creature was just looking for a shady spot to escape Monday’s summer heat.

“It’s actually very hot for snakes to operate at those kinds of temperatures so they often track around the edges of people’s houses, if someone’s left a door open or a nice crack or gab in the door for them they’ll crawl through there to thermoregulate in the air conditioned space and then they realised they’re stuck.

While reports of snakes inside Canberra homes are rare, Mr Smith has already received three separate call outs for similar incidents this week.

Thankfully, this red-bellied black snake was quickly and safely removed before being released back into the bush.

If you spot a snake inside your home it’s important to remain clam, contact a catcher and make sure to keep your eyes peels on the location of the snake until the catcher arrives.