Venomous Red-Bellied Snake Found in Children's Toy Basket

A family from Maroochydore, Queensland, were counting themselves lucky on October 2 after they discovered a venomous red-bellied black snake in a toy basket at their home.

The incident prompted the family to reach out to a local snake-catcher, Stuart McKensie, who recorded footage of the snake’s capture and release.

“When I arrived and saw this situation it actually sent a shiver down my spine,” McKensie said in a Facebook post.

“The two young daughters and their mum were playing in the girls’ room and went to take a few toys out of the toy basket when they uncovered a large, fat red-bellied black snake hiding in there,” he added.

“It was so lucky that one of them didn’t put their hand on the snake. As you can see the red belly was so chilled out and such a well-behaved snake.” Credit: Stuart McKenzie via Storyful