Off The Record

I Opened My Eyes And Saw A 12ft Python Coming For Me

Published on September 18, 2025

Cape York, Australia’s northernmost point, is around ten miles away from my husband, me, and our two kids. The main living space connecting the rooms of our off-grid home, which is made out of repurposed shipping containers, is fully exposed to the outside. The closest community is nine miles away, while our closest neighbors are over six miles away.

We have seen hundreds of snakes in our garden over the course of more than a decade, primarily pythons and colubrid species. Although there are some very deadly species, including death adders and coastal taipans, we have never seen them in our yard and have only seen them a few times in the entire area. However, because they are terrified of snakes and are aware of some of our incidents, some of our local acquaintances really refuse to visit our home.

Although I had a “healthy fear” of snakes as a child, I wouldn’t be afraid to touch one if it were being displayed as a pet or exhibit. In essence, I am someone who recognizes the beauty of the animal kingdom when it is shown to me and I am aware that these animals are a natural part of our surroundings.

After seeing numerous stunning pythons in the wild during a trip to Cape York in 2008, my husband acquired a recreational wildlife license and went on to buy a variety of pythons throughout the ensuing years. I occasionally helped with handling and feeding the individual animals because I genuinely admired them.

One of my close friends As the primary researcher in a project that followed about 20 snakes in the area, Daniel Natusch, a biologist and expert in biodiversity, regularly tracked a specific 12-foot-long, 10-pound scrub python about our property. He and I communicated virtually every day, and we were aware that the python had been within a few hundred meters of my house for several months.

Daniel had been having trouble getting a clear signal from his tracking device that was implanted on the snake on March 9, 2014. Because of the interference from our shipping containers, the signal seemed to have been “bouncing” around. At last, he found it—and hence the python—beneath the wooden floor of our living space, which connects two of our containers.

Since this was much more personal than simply being “out in the yard,” I did wonder if our children and dogs were more vulnerable. Daniel said that although it was unlikely that either would be attacked, it would be wise to check the rooms before putting the kids to sleep and make sure the windows and doors were closed.

After admitting that the python had been in our yard for months since the implantation and tracking started, and possibly for years prior, I think we discussed moving it during that meeting.

I took great care to make sure the kids were safe in their rooms, but I didn’t do the same for my own. Throughout the evening, I had neglected to check my room before going to bed, leaving the sliding screen doors open. That night, I unintentionally locked the snake in my chamber.

I woke up early on March 10th, feeling as though someone had bitten my lower buttock. I simultaneously groped for the light switch next to my bed with one hand and the bite location with the other. I decided to rip the snake’s bite off before it could entangle me with its body after seeing in the light what I guess I was already recording.

It had bitten a huge, flat section, which caused its jaws to open wide. In my hurry to grasp for the head, I ended up getting some fingers within the python’s jaw as I withdrew its bite off the leg, slightly cutting my hand and the leg.

Its body had been writhing over my legs while I was lying down, possibly trying to grasp me, like it would when smothering and trapping prey. I knew perfectly well that if I let this big snake snare me and slip around my neck, it might easily overwhelm me.

Fortunately, I had already handled a lot of huge pythons as pets and in my work helping researchers, so I was able to securely and swiftly get the snake out of my bed before it could encircle me. Due to my desire to keep my toddlers from waking up, I do recall that I was able to make very little noise during the episode. I contacted my husband after moving the Python into our kitchen, another sealed area, and shutting it inside.

He was really on a nearby island at the time, serving as a caretaker. Although it was only a half-mile boat ride and a half-hour drive, he was unable to cross for several more hours because the boat leg depended on specific tides.

In order to check on my injuries, my spouse contacted an ambulance. With all the excitement that came with the attack, he wanted to make sure I hadn’t missed any nerve damage or broken teeth in the wound, even though scrub pythons aren’t venomous. Additionally, he promised to summon Daniel to come to my place, and he did so within maybe half an hour after the incident, capturing the snake. After verifying its identity as part of the study, he let it go a little distance from the house.

Since my oldest son was the only one of the two children who could have understood the scenario, I believe we hid it from him for a while to prevent him from becoming afraid. My husband did think my backside bite was funny, but he was clearly worried. Other than making sure the fly screen mesh is fixed if it is damaged, we concluded there was no need to alter the living arrangement.

But a few months later, a puppy was successfully captured by what we believed to be the same snake. However, we were able to rapidly unwrap it and do chest compressions to revive the puppy. Although that snake was moved, it was actually one of the study’s twenty or so other snakes. However, the original did return and tried to obtain a meal again, but was unsuccessful. This time on a 55-pound catahoula leopard named Ninja, an older hunting dog in our kennel next to the home.

When we got to the kennel, Ninja was losing consciousness when we heard him yelp in the middle of the night. However, he was able to restore consciousness on his own thanks to our prompt unwrapping. The snake was moved considerably farther away from us this time.

Even while some snake species are easily confused, many of the local snakes have recognizable markings that our kids can easily identify. Along with teaching them how to handle and unwrap pythons in case they ever find themselves in a similar predicament, we have also prepared our kids on what to do in the event that they are bitten by a potentially poisonous snake: remain motionless and as composed as possible while phoning or sending for assistance.

When our oldest son, Jaxon, was racing along a paddock fence line earlier this year and came upon a swiftly moving snake that he was unable to positively identify, they performed their task flawlessly.

After turning and leaping away, he was worried that he had an unfamiliar scratch on his foot. The boys’ home was a few hundred meters away. Jaxon remained composed and continued to sit on the ground, but our youngest son, Benji, raced for assistance. He was taken to the hospital after we put a splint and pressure bandage on him as a precaution. Since it was either a “dry bite” or, more likely, a scratch from running around in the bush, he was lucky not to show any symptoms.

The best advise I can think of for anyone who is worried about snakes is to learn about your surroundings. However, after the incident, have I developed a fear of snakes? Not at all, is the response.

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