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A woman got the fright of her life when she was bitten on the bottom by a snake in the toilet.

Helen Richards, 59, was bitten as she sat on the toilet in the dark at a relative’s house in Brisbane on Tuesday.

Handler Jasmine Zeleny, who retrieved the reptile, said she “jumped off her seat” after the non-venomous strike by the 1.5 metre long python.

Ms Richards told local media she had felt a “sharp tap”.

“I jumped up with my pants down and turned around to see what looked like a longneck turtle receding back into the bowl,” she told The Courier Mail newspaper.