This past October, a woman in Vale View, a rural community in Queensland, Australia, noticed a scaly visitor in her yard. The animal, an eastern brown snake, was slithering through the underbrush to avoid the woman’s ducks and hens, who were chasing the reptile around the area.

Later that day, the woman was cleaning her bathroom when she saw a flash of brown in the doorway. She turned around and realized, with horror, that the same snake she’d seen earlier had snuck inside her house, and he was blocking her exit.

snake in house Gunter Glaser

The woman slammed the bathroom door. Luckily, she had her phone with her. She quickly dialed Gunter Glaser, an experienced snake handler and the owner of Snake Catcher Darling Downs 24/7.

snake in bathroom Gunter Glaser

Calling for expert help was the right idea, as eastern brown snakes can be very dangerous to humans. According to the Australian Museum, these snakes cause “more deaths from snake [bites] than any other species of snake in Australia,” though, as the museum notes, most of these deaths occur when inexperienced people try to hurt the snakes rather than leaving them alone or consulting an animal expert.

Seemingly, the snake entered the house through a small hole in an outside wall, left there after recent plumbing repairs. Once inside, the snake realized he was trapped, and he tried to get out, poking around every corner of the house, looking for an exit. By the time Glaser arrived, the terrified snake was in the laundry room.

man moving snake Gunter Glaser

“It was very frightened and reared up at me,” Glaser told The Dodo. “[But] then [he] settled down.”

Glaser safely grabbed the snake and moved him into a dark bag. He took the animal to a suitable environment, away from the residential neighborhood, and released him back into the wild.

Free at last, the snake slithered into the brush, surely feeling glad to be away from humanity once more.

To keep up with Glaser’s rescues, you can follow Snake Catcher Darling Downs 24/7 on Facebook. Driver Pulls Over When He Sees A Scaly Little Family Trapped In The RoadDriver Pulls Over When He Sees A Scaly Little Family Trapped In The RoadMom was so grateful he stopped to help.