An Australian snake catcher came to the aid of a Sunshine Coast family after their four-year-old son spotted a venomous eastern brown snake in their lounge room.

Stuart McKenzie from Sunshine Coast Snake Catchers 24/7 posted video to Facebook on October 28 showing him swiftly capturing the snake, ranked as the second-most toxic in the world, at the Yaroomba home, before releasing it back into the wild.

According to the Facebook post, the child saw the snake while playing with his toys, and backed away from it before alerting his mother, who immediately phoned the snake-catching service.

“This young boy did a great job and did everything perfectly. He moved away from the snake and told his parents straight away,” McKenzie wrote in the post, adding that instances like this one are why it’s “so important to teach your kids exactly what to do when they see a snake.” Credit: Stuart McKenzie via Storyful

Video transcript

- It's a brown snake.

- Yeah, it looks like a brown snake.

- [INAUDIBLE] a brown, OK. Yeah, son found it. We just got home. He walked in--

[INTERPOSING VOICES]

- --and went, oh, there's a snake. Thank god he came back.

STUART MCKENZIE: How old is he?

- Four.

STUART MCKENZIE: Far out. It's often near a window [INAUDIBLE]. Oh, he was just there. Oh. He's definitely [INAUDIBLE]. Here you are, bud. [INAUDIBLE] go straight in the bag. How's that? Eastern brown snake inside the house. The snake is probably around 5 foot long-- no, probably 4 foot long. Let's see if he just goes straight in the bag here. He's obviously looking for some way to get out. He'll be seeing the light coming in from all of the doors.

Come on, bud. There you go. What are you going to do? [INAUDIBLE] go straight in the bag here. Because it's a sheltered spot for him. That's it. He's just sussing out the bag at the moment, probably smells all of the snakes in there. In you go, bud. Or I'm going to have to grab you. You want to go in? In you go. Yeah, it's a nice, dark spot for you. That's it. Good snake, like a trained one. Keep going.

That's unbelievable. I can't believe he's inside, and their son found it. Keep going in. Good snake. Yes, so the son's come down. And he did perfectly. He saw the snake. And he ran straight back up and told his mom. So kids listening out there, if you ever see a snake inside, do not go near it. You go tell your parents. Done. It's the 4-and-1/2-foot brown snake cruising around your [INAUDIBLE] room. Yeah, we got it.

- You got it?

STUART MCKENZIE: Yeah, all good. Just got this cheeky brown snake that was found by a lady's son, absolutely crazy, cruising around the house looking for a way out. I'm not going to pick him up or anything. He's pretty keen to-- to get out, I think. So going to get him heading back into the bush. Oh, oh yes.