A snake catcher searching for a large python inside a car’s dashboard was startled to discover the snake’s head just centimetres away from his face.
“Oh s**t!” experienced catcher Stuart Mackenzie says in footage of the wild encounter, as the snake’s head emerges from the car’s glove box.
Stu and his colleague Olivia were called to a wrecker’s yard on the Sunshine Coast to remove the five-foot carpet python, which had taken up residence inside a ute.
The snake had been living inside the car for about a month, and a worker saw it slither into the dashboard as they were attempting to move the vehicle.
“It’s not very often you pull snakes out of cars,” Stu tells the camera, before the duo seek permission to pull the car apart.
“As long as you save the engine I don’t care,” the worker tells them.
Snake finds Stuart instead
Eventually, after dismantling the dashboard and pulling out the air vents, Stu catches a glimpse of the snake hidden underneath the glove box.
As he reaches deep into the footwell of the passenger seat, someone warns Stu the snake was actually looking right at him from the glove box, close to Stu’s face.
“Oh s**t! Right next to my face!” he exclaims.
“So in this situation we want to let the snake come out by itself,” he says, before the python comes sliding out of its hidey-hole.
Stu and Liv later released the python into nearby bushland, with the snake seen slithering over a log in search of a new home.
The pair said despite their experience with snakes, they still find it “amazing” at how they can manipulate their bodies to fit into confined spaces.
The video, which was originally filmed in September, was reposted to the Sunshine Coast Snake Catchers 24/7 Facebook page on Monday, where it quickly attracted 1200 likes and dozens of comments.
“At least this car wasn’t driving down the road when Mr Python popped out!” one woman wrote.
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