BRISBANE, Australia – In a scene that would send most Americans screaming for the hills or reaching for a shotgun, an Australian woman stood atop her kitchen counter in socks and calmly extracted two large pythons from a hole in her ceiling using little more than a long pole.
The viral video, shared widely on social media Tuesday, shows the woman, identified in earlier reports as Tiarnah, a professional snake catcher with Sunshine Coast Snake Catchers, handling the situation with the kind of unflappable cool that has become synonymous with life Down Under.
Dressed casually, she balances on the counter, reaches into the roof space, and steadily pulls out the hefty reptiles one after another. The snakes, later identified as coastal carpet pythons, appear to have been two males that had entered the ceiling, likely fighting during breeding season, and caused enough commotion to prompt the unusual removal method. No manhole access meant cutting a hole and fishing them out the old-fashioned way.
Coastal carpet pythons are non-venomous constrictors common across Queensland and much of Australia. They often seek shelter in suburban homes, where they help control rodent populations, but can grow several meters long and become a nuisance in roof spaces. While not deadly to humans, their size and sudden appearances make them the stuff of nightmares for the uninitiated.
No injuries were reported, and the snakes were presumably relocated safely by the professional handler. For now, the viral moment serves as a reminder: If you hear strange noises in your ceiling Down Under, it might not be possums.
