"They're crazy, biting, eating machines and could easily eat a baby." Lucy Jackson, originally from Britain, said finding a snake nestled inside her shed was a brutal introduction to life in Australia. "My boyfriend's dad was clearing out the shed at the back, when he ran out saying 'oh my gosh it's a snake'," Ms Jackson said. "I remember thinking, I'm never going outside again. When Raymond [the snake catcher] got there he said 'don't worry it's just a python', and I thought 'are you serious?'.

"He said it wouldn't bite, and if it did bite it wouldn't kill you, and I said there's no way I'm going to bed knowing there's a snake in there. "And he grabbed it and that was our Sunday excitement." Water pythons usually inhabit freshwater swamps, lagoons, creeks and rivers across the tropical north of Australia. They feed on rats, bandicoots, wallabies, water birds and have also be seen feeding on small freshwater crocodiles. Their prey is usually ambushed when they come to drink. Mr Hoser, who runs the company Snakebusters, was called to the house on Charles Street about 6pm Sunday.

By the time he got there, he said "the whole street" was watching the slithery specimen. "It was in a storage shed made of brick at the back of the terrace house. It was crawling around near the ceiling," he said. "It's obviously an escaped pet, but nothing is certain. You couldn't know where it's from for sure, but it's a North Queensland animal. "We don't use them in my reptile shows because they'd be eating up kids." Ms Jackson said a neighbour saw a snake inside someone else's backyard before it was spotted inside her shed.

"It's very scary, but obviously as soon as he said it was an escaped pet I was really relieved. But it's crazy to think people keep pets like that," Ms Jackson said. Mr Hoser said it was unfortunate that people could lose such a dangerous pet, as it was a bad look for all snake owners. "Don't lose them, it's a criminal offence to have an animal escape. If a snake gets out and eats someone – you're in the shit," he said. "The problem is someone won't admit to owning it, so it's unlikely the owner will come forward." The Park Orchards snake catcher said he would hand the snake over to a lost reptiles home in Werribee.

His advice for anyone who sees a snake near their home? "Don't go near them and they won't bite; if you're not near it, you won't get bitten." He recommends people clear their gardens of rubbish and vegetation regularly, to avoid giving snakes a place to hide. "Situations snakes love most are rocky retaining walls with overgrown vegetation, especially if there is a pool or pond nearby. This is snake heaven," Mr Hoser said. "Finally, if you see a snake in the garden the best advice is move out of the way and leave it alone."