Woman finds deadly snake in her Christmas tree

MELBOURNE, Australia - A woman who found a deadly tiger snake nestled in the Christmas tree in her lounge room kept her cool and calmly made a cup of tea while waiting for a snake-catcher to arrive.

The tiger snake, looking bit like tinsel, on a Christmas tree in a Melbourne home.

The woman, called Cheryl, noticed the uninvited and highly venomous guest in her Melbourne home on Sunday.

Instead of panicking she called a professional snake-catcher and had a cuppa while waiting for him.

"It was a tiger snake. They are very deadly but only if you hurt them," snake-catcher Barry Goldsmith, who removed the reptile, told AFP Monday.

"It probably came in through an open door, but Cheryl was very sensible about it.

"She didn't panic, she just took a photo and sent it to the snake-catcher, me, and 20 minutes later I had the little bugger in a bag."

Australia is home to 20 of the world's 25 most venomous snakes, including the tiger snake which can grow up to 2.9 metres (10 feet) and is usually found in coastal areas.