LIVING on a farm in western Victoria had already given Bianca Dickinson a healthy fear of snakes.

That fear increased exponentially for the mother-of-four on Wednesday, when she took a photograph of her daughter Molly, 2, at the end of their driveway and unwittingly captured a monster eastern brown snake slithering frighteningly close behind the toddler.

Eastern browns are Australia’s second deadliest breed of snake, behind only the taipan.

“I haven’t slept since it happened,” Ms Dickinson told news.com.au

“Every time I shut my eyes I see that big snake and what could have happened. I see Molly being taken away in an ambulance.”

Ms Dickinson was waiting at the bottom of her one kilometre long driveway near Kaniva, in Victoria’s Wimmera region, for her eldest three children to come home on the school bus on Wednesday afternoon.

She often takes pictures of her children playing on the farm and was doing so when the encounter occurred.

“I could see the bus coming and Molly and I were near our mailbox, so I crouched down and looked at her through the lens,” she said.

“I guess I was focused on her so I didn’t see anything else.

“It was really windy and then I saw this flash and I just thought it was bark coming off the tree.

“When I looked up it was already halfway past, I could see the tail between Molly’s legs.

“I think it was touching her boots it was that close.

“My initial instinct was to run and grab her but I thought, ‘no if I do that the snake might come back.’

“I froze and luckily she copied me.”

Not long after, her three eldest children got off the school bus.

“I just starred yelling at my other three kids to get in the car,” she said. “I got in the car and I was shaking and my oldest, Imogen, who is 13, said to me, ‘was there a snake?’

“I said, ‘yes, it was at least two metres, and she said, ‘oh mum it wasn’t that big’, then she said, ‘did you get a photo?’”

It was only then that the full horror of both the size of the snake and how close it had come to Molly was revealed.

Mrs Dickinson checked her phone and found she had captured the giant reptile in three shots.

“It was horrifying — luckily it was over in seconds,” she said. “We know that they are out there but I guess we don’t have them come that close to us.

“Thankfully the kids generally know what to do but Molly is too little, she wouldn’t know what to do.”

The toddler, however, remains blissfully unaware of her close encounter with the eastern brown.

“Molly looked at the photo when I showed her and she just said, ‘that’s me,’” Mrs Dickinson laughed.

“She’s sleeping happily and has no idea what happened, which is good.”

As for her and the other kids, the snake sighting has been a rattling experience.

“The kids didn’t want to go outside yesterday, around the house will be fine, but we’ll be taking a bit more care walking out and about,” she said.

“And I don’t think I’ll be out taking any more photos until it’s cold.”

kim.stephens@news.com.au