Jennifer Duckitt has seen her fair share of sneaky snakes. As a seasoned professional with Illawarra Snake Catcher in Australia, she knows just how slippery — and shockingly stealthy — these creatures can be.
But during a recent callout to a home under construction, even she was stunned by what she found.
Contractors had spotted a red-bellied black snake inside the building and called for help. Though venomous, the species tends to avoid humans — but that didn’t make Duckitt’s job any easier.
As she scanned the room, something caught her eye: a face, staring back at her from a tiny gap along the baseboard. It was the snake, somehow wedged into a space that looked far too small to hold anything alive.
“The photo was a fluke, to be honest,” Duckitt told The Dodo. “I wanted to show how little a gap they can squeeze themselves into. I was super excited, as a lot of the time no one believes you when you explain they can do that.”
Flattened to an almost impossible degree, the 2-foot-long snake had pulled off a camouflage trick worthy of a magician. But even that wasn’t enough to outsmart Duckitt.
With a bit of patience and gentle handling, she safely removed the snake and released him in a better-suited location — far from human homes.
And this red-bellied black snake isn’t the only Houdini in Australia’s reptile world. Snake catchers across the country regularly witness snakes contorting their bodies to slip through door gaps, vents, and cracks that seem impossibly tight.
Here's another Australian snake catcher sharing how an even larger snake can fit through the small gap in a door:
Thankfully, with skilled experts like Duckitt on the job, these secretive snakes can be relocated safely — and homeowners can breathe a little easier.