Last winter my sister and I were very fortunate to have a great sit in Buderim, Queensland. We’d had good communication leading up to the sit but only remembered a few weeks before it was to start to ask about snakes, where the back garden looked very tropical. Just as well we asked as we were informed the cat loved bringing non-venomous tree snakes up to the house but as it was winter, they would be hibernating. Phew!
The owners felt very comfortable handling these tree snakes and had also had a resident carpet python for years that had adopted their garden but it was no longer there.
As we are not snake lovers, we asked for the details of the local snake catcher to be included in the written information provided.
Well, it turned out that winter was hotter than usual and we had actually seen a couple of snakes in the bush areas where we were walking the dog that we were also looking after which made us more vigilant around the home.
The last night of our sit there was a scratching on the door between the garage and house and puss wanted to come in. And what did he have but a snake! Thin and only about 35cm long but a snake is a snake! It decided to hide under the wellies that were right beside the door so my sister kept watch while I rang the snake catcher.
Stuart was so prompt in arriving and we did feel a little silly when it was a small snake but he reassured us we had done the right thing as this wasn’t a tree snake but a keel back snake, still non-venomous, but could easily be mistaken for a brown snake which is highly venomous.
Our thoughtful owners had left emergency money which covered the cost of the snake removal and there was not an issue that we had used it for this purpose. They follow the snake catcher on Facebook and knew snakes were on the move because of the warmer weather so were not surprised puss had brought us a gift!
We thoroughly enjoyed this sit as both pets were wonderful and would happily return again - in May or June next time when it’s definitely winter!!!
Thank-you @temba for sharing your snake story and love that you continued the theme of “Adventures in House Sitting”. Who’s next? This could make a good forum series!!
We’ve lived in several countries where snakes are dangerous, Australia and Panama in particular, but not yet had to deal with one in the house. I did once spend an anxious night in Kenya on safari when a Black Mamba curled up in a corner on the little terrace of my hotel room… The staff where too scared to remove it (rightly so). I blocked every possible small whole or gap with towels 
needless to say I survived and the snake was gone by the morning!
Thanks again for telling your story!
I can relate to your Kenyan encounter but fortunately I only heard tales of Black Mambas being found in safari tents. My fear was treading on a puff adder in the Namibian desert.
That’s even worse 
Namibia is so on our travel list after our African house sit experiences, it looked fabulous. We made it to Zimbabwe and Zambia after Botswana, but ran out of time.
@Vanessa_A Namibia was just wonderful. There were 3 of us plus our driver. We had the most amazing game viewing in Etosha National Park and then there was sunrise over the high red dunes in the Namib-Naukluft National Park. Just sitting high up on a peak watching the sunrise and the effect on the dunes was unbelievable. My friends were teaching in Zambia so I spent time in that country as well, particularly around Ndola and Lusaka.
We lived in Mumbai for 6 years and one home we lived in backed on to a disused airfield surrounded by swamp land. We had a small back yard and garden with a very large rockery in one corner, one afternoon we were sitting on the terrace when Holly our Springer started barking ferociously (that was not her nature) we looked up to see two Cobras swaying in front of her needless to say our hearts came into our mouths (literally) we managed to get her into the house shut the doors and called for assistance, turns out there was a “family” of cobras in the rockery … Don’t ask me what happened all I know is after a week we were told it was safe.
Second experience I was doing laundry and there was a large mirror which gave me a view of the terrace and overhang from the upstair office, there was something hanging from the air conditioning unit, the gardeners had been that morning and I though it was the watering hose they had left out, I went to go and look at putting it away only to realise as I got nearer that is was a rather long and quite large snake … the heart rate sky rocketed, again door shut and I went upstairs to the property manager’s office, shaking and with a real sense of urgency, described what I had seen …
“Oh the snake, yes NO PROBLEM “He” comes every year, it’s very hot that’s why he’s hanging out he’ll disappear when it cools down” OK disappears to where and if this is his annual visit, when does he leave?
Doors remained closed and I never did find where it went or when.
@Angela_L I completely understand your reactions to those situations! Scary as!! I think snakes were my biggest fear when travelling to Africa and I’ve been three times now. The Africans had the same attitude as what you found in Mumbai.
I was ever so relieved that the carpet snake no longer was a resident at the Buderim house!