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Family destroys yard to catch deadly snake lurking under home

A deadly snake that had taken up residence at a Queensland property for more than six months was finally captured on the weekend after the family ripped up a concrete slab to catch the slithering creature.

The family spotted the dangerous eastern brown snake for the first time on Saturday at their Helensvale home in Queensland near the Gold Coast. But it was not the first time the snake had been spotted on the property.

With two young children in tow, Kristy McDiarmid and her husband weren't taking any chances, using a jack hammer to tear up a concrete path at their property to catch the deadly 1.3 metre reptile once and for all.

Tony Harrison from Gold Coast and Brisbane snake catcher was called out to the property more than six months ago by the then owner.

Mr McDiarmid was jack hammering for about two hours. Source: Facebook / Gold Coast and Brisbane snake catcher
Mr McDiarmid was jack hammering for about two hours. Source: Facebook / Gold Coast and Brisbane snake catcher

"It was a really messy property, long grass and all and I had in the back of my mind that it was probably a tree snake but when I was shown a photo of the snake, I thought 'no, that's a brown'," Mr Harrison told Yahoo7.

Unable to locate the snake, Mr Harrison told them to keep an eye out for it, not to scare it when they found it and to call him back when the time came. He never heard from them again.

On Sunday, six months later, Mr Harrison received a call from the same address but he turned up to find different owners who were determined to find the snake at any cost.

The pair finally found the snake. Source: Facebook / Gold Coast and Brisbane snake catcher
The pair finally found the snake. Source: Facebook / Gold Coast and Brisbane snake catcher

"He [Mr McDiarmid] had the option of smashing up the slab, or smashing up the slab," Mr Harrison said.

"He called me up and asked if I was up for helping and I did."

About two hours of jack hammering later, the pair managed to find the deadly snake under the rubble and were able to capture it.

The parents, who have two young children, were relieved to see the snake go, to say the least.

"The kids were stoked about the snake like kids are, hubby was very nervous and mum was not impressed about the prospect of their kids playing near the second most dangerous snake in the world," Mr Harrison said.

The family were relieved when they found the snake. Source: Facebook / Gold Coast and Brisbane snake catcher
The family were relieved when they found the snake. Source: Facebook / Gold Coast and Brisbane snake catcher

The family are planning on paving the area with some gravel now so "no more snakes can hide there". They have only been living at the property since January.

"We heard from the neighbours that the previous owner had seen it a few times least year, but was never able to capture it," Ms McDiarmid told Yahoo7.

"The snake catcher advised us to just gravel and pave as snakes don't like that. We still have over half of the cement to remove over the next few weeks.

"My husband was well and truely over it on Sunday as he was jack hammering for hours.

"We were pretty much advised if our kids would get bitten it would be fatal for them, especially for our two-year-old daughter, so we had no choice."

The family now have a lot of rubble to get rid of. Source: Facebook / Gold Coast and Brisbane snake catcher
The family now have a lot of rubble to get rid of. Source: Facebook / Gold Coast and Brisbane snake catcher

Ms McDiarmid said they will redo the area themselves and hope it will only cost "a grand or two".

"We need to hire a skip to take all of the cement, then order in some gravel and pavers and get in some additional soil to build it all up as the cement was really thick," she said.

Mr Harrison said while it's an interesting instance, it isn't the first time he has seen this sort of thing as a snake catcher.

"I've seen much bigger slabs get torn up, big rocks being moved by forklifts, and a sledge hammer going through a wall after a carpet python crawled through a hole," he said.