A sneaky snake has made its way from Queensland to Glasgow in the suitcase of a Scottish tourist, who at first glimpse thought she had been the victim of a practical joke.

The spotted python was found in Moira Boxall's shoe last Friday on her return from a summer holiday Down Under.

Her son-in-law Paul Airlie, who lives with his family in Mackay, said the find was certainly a surprise.

"She was not at all expecting to find the snake when she was unpacking a bag when she got back to Scotland," he said.

"She had woken up a few days before she left and thought she had seen a snake in her room and woke me up at 3:00 in the morning to check.

"We searched the room and there was no snake. However, it turns out there was a snake, as it had gone and hidden in her shoe."

The snake and its skin was lodged in the shoe. ( Supplied: Paul Airlie )

Mr Airlie said his wife Sarah had helped Ms Boxall pack.

"Obviously she just picked the shoe up and stuck it in the bag and then it was there," he said.

"Somehow or other it got from Mackay to Glasgow without being detected."

Is this a joke?

During Ms Boxall's stay in Queensland, Mr Airlie had played down the fact that snakes were common in central Queensland, especially after his mother-in-law thought she had seen one in her room.

"She actually thought that Sarah and I had put a fake snake in her shoe to wind her up, so at first she thought it was a joke until she touched it and it moved," he said.

"She absolutely lost it — it was her first real encounter with a snake."

Ms Boxall took the shoe with the snake in it to her garden and placed a box over the top.

"She called us here in Australia and we phoned the Scottish RSPCA and told them that there was a snake in the house," Mr Airlie said.

"We had to tell them it was from Australia and that it could have been a venomous snake.

"Luckily we found out it was a spotted python so it was fine — it could have been worse."

Snake-skinned shoes

In the photos it showed the snake had shed its skin during the journey.

"I don't know exactly when it shed its skin but it had to happen on the flight which is strange," Mr Airlie said.

"Interestingly, when I put it on social media someone commented saying, 'you can now say you have snake-skinned shoes'.

"Snakes are as foreign to a Scot as snow is to a Queenslander."

He said he was unsure if his mother-in-law would return to Australia anytime soon.

"She said she's not so keen to come back and visit, but I suspect she will — she'll have to think about it at first.

"We had to get a friend to go and unpack the rest of the bag for her in case there was another one."

The snake is in quarantine in Scotland and could soon be housed in a Glasgow zoo.