Craig and Kelly Miles have always admired snakes from afar, but recently the reptiles have been coming too close for comfort.
The family has been living on edge after seven incidents at their Marcus Beach home, in Queensland's Noosa Shire.
Mr Miles said the "python tsunami" included one terrifying encounter in which he was bitten, along with his two dogs.
The saga started late last year, when a 2.5-metre python invaded their bedroom.
"I was sitting in my study and I received a text message from my wife saying 'there's an enormous python in the bedroom, help'," Mr Miles said.
"The python probably came in through the cat flap ... it was coiled up on the table next to my saxophone."
The couple called in a professional snake catcher.
"There was a moment of 'oh my goodness', because it was so big," Ms Miles said.
"It was a beautiful snake but I was a bit freaked out."
The unwelcome visitor was relocated, but later that day another python came calling.
This one, in the front garden, was ushered away with a broom.
The attack
A few weeks later, the couple had begun to relax, when the most serious incident occurred on December 28.
"I was just standing in the kitchen ... and suddenly heard the puppy scream," Mr Miles said.
A large carpet python had wrapped around their three-month-old groodle Winnie, who was trapped under the back deck.
"We were freaking out ... I had to kind of crawl in ... I guess I just went into autopilot and I just grabbed the python ... picked it up and did an uncoil type of thing," Mr Miles said.
"I think she was probably a minute or so off from being a dead dog ... it was going to kill her ... she was quiet, still breathing obviously, but quiet."
Five-year-old spoodle Henry had also run to the rescue and was bitten between the eyes.
"I thought Craig and our older dog were heroes," Ms Miles said.
"Craig just went into full action mode ... if he hadn't been there, I dread to think what would have happened."
Mr Miles said they took both dogs to their vet, where they were treated and given antibiotics.
"And you know, that was fine," he said.
It was only later in the day he realised that he had also been bitten.
"We got back home and I went for a swim to cool off ... and noticed I had two holes in my toes ... somewhere in the melee the snake had a go at me but with the whole kind of adrenaline of it I hadn't even felt it," he said
'You can't be serious'
The 2.5 metre snake disappeared into a garden bed shortly after the attack.
A day later, the couple suspected the same snake returned to the home.
This time, Craig decided enough was enough.
With the help of friends and neighbours, he caught the python in a pillow slip and relocated it to Noosa National Park, 200 metres away.
It was not far enough. Four days later, they found Winnie face to face with a python in the yard in the middle of the night.
This time they relocated it to bushland six kilometres away.
A day later another carpet python was spotted on the street outside their home, heading towards the carport, but it was not seen again.
The seventh and final incident involved a green tree snake, which Mrs Miles spotted eating a frog on their downpipe.
"We realised that wasn't going to endanger the puppies ... but we had to watch this poor frog get eaten," she said.
Mr Miles said the snake situation had got to the point where it seemed "beyond all the realms of possibility".
"Each time it was Kelly going 'Craig!' and I'm like, 'what now?'," he said.
"Another one? You can not be serious!"
"Hopefully that's the last of them ... but I'd love some insight into why we are suddenly getting a python tsunami."
'Snake-proofing' a property
Snake catcher Stuart McKenzie said while snakes were not territorial, they do have a "home range".
"That might be a whole block of houses ... or a couple of roof spaces," Mr McKenzie said.
"The other possibility is that it's potentially a female that's on eggs nearby and they're seeing the same snake."
"It's all about food, shelter and water ... you need to do things that will keep their food away, no scraps or built-up timber piles ... anywhere that rats will hide."
The Miles family has taken steps to prevent further intrusions, including boarding up their back deck and removing clutter.
"We do feel privileged living in such a beautiful, green, bushy area," Mr Miles said.
"Kelly joked we should sell up ... we do have to accept that snakes come with the territory ... hopefully to a lesser degree in future."
