{"id":8970,"date":"2025-07-17T09:45:07","date_gmt":"2025-07-17T09:45:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/topkeynews.com\/?p=8970"},"modified":"2025-07-17T09:45:08","modified_gmt":"2025-07-17T09:45:08","slug":"snake-catcher-jay-everding-monster-5-2m-python-found-lurking-at-queensland-familys-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/topkeynews.com\/?p=8970","title":{"rendered":"Snake catcher Jay Everding: Monster 5.2m python found lurking at Queensland family\u2019s home"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A homeowner in the small town of Mareeba, about 60kms east of Cairns, was locking up late on Tuesday night when he saw something move out of the corner of his eye, just before he turned the light off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Going in for a closer look, the man was confronted with a monster snake lurking along the house\u2019s gutters and downpipe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jay Everding, from Close Encounters Reptile Removal, said the shaken owner called him for help, saying \u201cI think I\u2019ve got an anaconda!\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Everding said he initially thought the man might have been exaggerating the reptile\u2019s size.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c(But) when we came in the driveway, I could see him and I was like, \u2018Oh, s..t. It is a big snake\u2019. Like, for a second, I was doubting if I could actually get him or just how big he was.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And you know it\u2019s a whopper when even the snake catcher is impressed \u2014 with the reptile measuring a little over 5.2 metres long and weighing in at 26.4kgs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A Mareeba homeowner has had a close encounter with an unwelcome guest.\u00a0<\/sub><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The amethystine python, also known as a scrub python, had coiled itself around a drain pipe, making for a difficult rescue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It took more than an hour to wrestle the reptile away from the house.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think in the end he kind of gave up,\u201d Mr Everding, who has 20 years experience catching snakes, said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think he was exhausted. But I\u2019m glad he gave up first because I was just about to give up,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSome people don\u2019t realise how strong they are.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The amethystine python, also known as a scrub python, was trying to make its way into the roof of the home.\u00a0<\/sub><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Everding said while the snake is not venomous it could kill by constriction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe lady was terrified, she never seen nothing that big and the fellow, well, he was just kind of speechless because he is like, \u2018Man, I don\u2019t know how you can do that because I\u2019m terrified\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The amethystine python, also known as a scrub python, was trying to make its way into the roof of the home<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reptile, believed to more than 25 years old, was so big it even broke the bag Mr Everding uses to transport snakes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The python has now been relocated to a rural property where there are plenty of places for him to hide and lots of rats and other small animals to eat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A homeowner in the small town of Mareeba, about 60kms east of Cairns, was locking up late on Tuesday night when he saw something move out of the corner of his eye, just before he turned the light off. Going in for a closer look, the man was confronted with a monster snake lurking along […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":8974,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[308],"tags":[1192,1193,1194,1191],"class_list":["post-8970","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-animal","tag-australiawildlife","tag-jayeverding","tag-pythonalert","tag-snakecatcher"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/topkeynews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8970","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/topkeynews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/topkeynews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/topkeynews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/topkeynews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8970"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/topkeynews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8970\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8975,"href":"https:\/\/topkeynews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8970\/revisions\/8975"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/topkeynews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8974"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/topkeynews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/topkeynews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/topkeynews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}