Snake catcher's three-year-old son helps him bag python
Most toddlers would have no idea what their parents do at work, but one Queensland boy is lucky enough to regularly join his snake-catching parents on call-outs.
At about 7pm on Wednesday Jensen Harrison and his parents Tony and Brooke went to a Gold Coast home to remove an unwelcome visitor which had slithered in and curled up in a hallway.
Jensen, now three, is no stranger to their work and was eager to lend a hand when catching the carpet python at Willow Vale, on the Gold Coast.
Video shows the little assistant, who appears to have nerves of steel, reach out to touch the 1.2m reptile when his dad does.
Mr Harrison can be heard asking the toddler, “You got it?”.
Jensen excitedly replies: “Yep.”
His dad, whose grip is around the reptile’s head, tells him, “I’ve got a hold of the sharp end”.
It seems that the snake slips out of Jensen’s grip, but he quickly grabs onto its tail and helps his mum feed it into the bag.
The animal loving three-year-old, who has his own Facebook page, already appears to have a strong passion for catching reptiles and could follow in his parents footsteps.
Mr Harrison said, “He’s definitely got a personality that’s infectious – everybody loves him.”
“He’s a show off like myself.”
While some parents might not let their kids this close to reptiles, Jensen has about 150 animals at home, including snakes, lizards, turtles and frogs.
“He’s very interactive with our animals at home,” Mr Harrison explained.
And after helping his parents he knows the difference between certain types of snakes, and has an idea about which are venomous and non-venomous snakes.
His parents also assess the reptile’s personality before allowing him to get too close.
“He does wait for us to give the nod,” Mr Harrison said.
“If he does get concerned he is straight away on the back foot.”
But either way the confident child always has a job to do when he attends call outs.
Jensen likes to be responsible for opening or closing the bag, but if the snake is venomous he will hand out business cards to the clients instead.
“I wish I was like him when I was his age,” said Mr Harrison.
