Man Finds 4-Foot Snake in His Toilet: 'Quite Surprised'

There are many things you do not want to find in your toilet, and a 4-foot snake is definitely one of them. But for an Australian man in Hervey Bay, Queensland, this nightmare became a reality.

Snake catcher Katie Airey of Hervey Bay Snake Catchers was immediately called to the scene. "They went to use the bathroom and found it when they lifted the toilet seat," her husband, Drew Godfrey, who is also with Hervey Bay Snake Catchers, told Newsweek. "I'd assume they were quite surprised."

Fortunately, the snake was a common tree snake, Dendrelaphis punctulata, a nonvenomous species that is harmless to humans. "They are very inquisitive and friendly towards people," Godfrey said.

Common tree snakes are a medium-sized wetland species that can be found across northern and eastern Australia. On average, they grow to about 4 feet, although some reportedly grow up to 6.5 feet. The snakes are reluctant to bite and instead release a strong-smelling musk if they feel threatened.

In the video of the incident, the snake was clearly responding this way: "It really smells," Airey can be heard saying.

After removing the snake from the toilet, Airey gently placed it in her snake-catching back and released it in a more suitable wetland habitat.

Godfrey said this was not the first time the service has had to remove a snake from a toilet. Last April, he was called to an industrial estate to remove a snake of the same species from an office toilet after it followed a frog into the restroom.

"It's something every snake catcher can expect at some stage in their career, but more often than not they'll be behind a toilet or just in a toilet block rather than down the bowl," he told Newsweek at the time.

The snake probably just saw the toilet as a water source, according to Godfrey. "[It] most likely ended up in there chasing its favorite food, the green tree frog," he said. "Being a wetland species, it feels quite at home in the water.... They are fantastic swimmers."

Events like this are not limited to Australia. In August 2021, a mother in North Carolina found a juvenile rat snake slithering around her toilet seat. The year before, a man in West Texas found a snake poking its head out of the water in a toilet bowl.

If you encounter a snake in your house or on your property, the best thing you can do is call your local snake catcher to remove it and release it into a more suitable habitat, away from humans.

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