
A Brisbane woman’s solution to waking up with an 8-foot python coiled on her chest was so calmly executed that it defies every natural human instinct when faced with a massive serpent in your bed.
Story Highlights
- Rachel Bloor woke to find a 2.5-meter carpet python lying across her stomach and chest
- The snake entered through second-story plantation shutters while she slept
- Instead of calling professionals, she calmly grabbed the python and guided it out the window herself
- Her biggest concern was protecting her dogs, not the massive snake sharing her bed
The Midnight Intruder That Changed Everything
Rachel Bloor stirred from sleep feeling an unusual weight pressing against her chest. In that drowsy haze between dreams and consciousness, her mind rationalized the sensation as one of her dogs—perhaps the labradoodle or Dalmatian—seeking nighttime comfort. Then it moved. Not the familiar shift of a furry companion, but something entirely different that sent her fully awake in an instant.
The reality was far more extraordinary than any sleepy confusion could explain. A 2.5-meter carpet python had somehow scaled her second-story Brisbane home, pushed through plantation shutters, and made itself comfortable across her torso. Most people would have screamed, panicked, or frozen in terror. Bloor’s response revealed something far more remarkable about human adaptability under pressure.
When Rural Instincts Meet Urban Wildlife
Bloor’s calm reaction wasn’t born from ignorance or shock paralysis. Her upbringing on rural acreage had taught her a fundamental truth about wildlife encounters: panic spreads faster than venom. “If you’re calm, they’re calm,” she explained later, a philosophy that would prove lifesaving in those crucial moments when most people’s fight-or-flight instincts would have triggered chaos.
After waking her husband and confirming they weren’t dealing with a vivid nightmare, Bloor’s first priority wasn’t the massive predator sharing her bed—it was getting her dogs to safety. Her husband quickly removed their pets from the room while she remained motionless, calculating her next move with the kind of measured thinking that separates survivors from victims in wildlife encounters.
The DIY Snake Removal That Defied Convention
What happened next challenges every professional recommendation about snake encounters. Rather than calling wildlife services or waiting for expert help, Bloor executed what she called a “side-shuffle” maneuver, carefully extracting herself from beneath the covers without startling the python. The snake, a non-venomous carpet python common to Queensland’s coastal regions, remained docile throughout the process.
Then came the moment that transformed this from a close call into an extraordinary display of human courage: Bloor simply grabbed the python and guided it toward the open window. “I grabbed him,” she recounted matter-of-factly, describing how the snake’s substantial weight “wobbled in my hand” as she maneuvered all eight feet of muscle and scales back to the outdoors where it belonged.
The Bigger Picture Behind Bedroom Invasions
Snake catcher Kurt Whyte explains that Bloor’s encounter represents a growing trend across Australian urban areas. Hot weather and breeding season drive carpet pythons to seek cooler shelter, while housing developments increasingly encroach on traditional snake habitats. The result is more frequent human-wildlife intersections, though snake populations remain stable—it’s their displacement that creates these dramatic encounters.
Brisbane’s subtropical climate and coastal location make it prime carpet python territory. These constrictors, which feed on birds and small mammals, view suburban homes as convenient hunting grounds and climate-controlled rest stops. Unsealed garage doors and accessible windows provide highway-style entry points into human living spaces, turning bedrooms into unexpected wildlife corridors.
Sources:
Brisbane woman wakes to 2.5-metre carpet python on her bed – Gulf News
Brisbane woman wakes to find 2.5m python curled up on top of her – 1News
Brisbane woman wakes to find massive python curled up on top of her – 7News
Unexpected visitor: Australian wakes up to python curled up on her chest – Times of India
Woman wakes up with 8-foot python coiled on her chest – Fox29


