ARM’S REACH: Scarlett Simoneau, 7, with a giant earthworm found at her Buderim home.

ARM’S REACH: Scarlett Simoneau, 7, with a giant earthworm found at her Buderim home. Contributed

WHEN is a snake not a snake? When it is a giant earthworm.

The Simoneau family have had two recent scares at their Buderim home but upon closer inspection the snakes turned out to be giant earthworms.

The worms measured between 60cm and a metre long.

Tamara Simoneau spotted the first worm in the garage as she was loading her two-year-old daughter into the car and the second on an outdoor mat on the patio a few days later.

She said each was "too straight and moving too slow" to be a snake.

The worms were eventually released into the garden.

Dr Penny Mitchell, director of Worms Downunder worm farms at Palmwoods, said giant earthworms were found on the Sunshine Coast.

The worms might have been trying to keep their feet dry, so to speak.

Dr Mitchell said worms often tried to get to higher ground when a weather change was on the way.