Queensland girl's shocking discovery in school bag

An Ipswich schoolgirl got the fright of her life when she reached into her bag for morning tea only to find a red-bellied black snake instead of her snacks.

The young primary school student from Augusta State School in Augustine Heights, southwest of Brisbane, didn’t notice the snake right away – in fact, it wasn’t until it slithered across her hand that she raised the alarm.

A staff member at the school bravely stepped in to quickly zip the backpack compartment closed and call a professional reptile handler.

Licensed snake catcher Lana Field from Snake Catchers Brisbane, Ipswich, Logan & Gold Coast arrived to find the two-foot juvenile snake curled up inside, explaining red-bellied blacks are actually quite shy, so it was probably looking for a place to hide when it entered the schoolbag.

“It had every opportunity to bite the child because she’s putting her hand in there in a dark space but it would have been more interested in hiding,” Field told news.com.au. “Nobody has ever died from a red-bellied black bite.”

Funnily enough, the snake – the mascot for Slytherin house in the Harry Potter series – had slithered its way into a Gryffindor bag. In the books, the two houses are fierce rivals.

Field said call-outs for red-bellied black snakes were common, “particularly in areas where there are rock retaining walls and any areas where there is some water in the vicinity".