CREEPY crawlies aren't everyone's cup of tea, but after Jake and Luke Forrester's Darwin Carpet Python 'Becky' slithered away - the brothers were distraught.
After searching the suburb and putting the call out for help on Facebook, Hunter Wildlife Rescue reptile rescuer Anil Lakkundi saw a solution - he had a Marbled Children's Python that needed a place to live, and the boys had a loving home.
But, Becky must have heard the news - slipping back into the house the same night the boys agreed to take on their new snake - Marvin.
"I had a snake rescue last week, it turned out to be an escaped pet and I was looking for the owners," Mr Lakkundi said.
"The snake I found wasn't his snake, but when I met with the family it was quite moving because his mum said it hadn't been a good week for him.
"Now he's got a reason to smile, not all snakes need to be scary."
Much to mum Tracy's delight, Marvin joins Becky the snake, Kevin the bearded dragon, a scorpion named Betty and Thong the tarantula in the family's menagerie.
"The boys take a lot of pride in looking after their pets, Anil offered them the rescue snake and the day after that Becky rocked up - she never left the caravan apparently," she said.
"We pulled everything out and searched everywhere, we weren't sure where she was but she obviously got hungry - when my son was about to go to bed we found her slithering across the cupboards.
"Maybe she got a bit jealous, I think she's a bit cheeky really, maybe a little bit spoilt but now she's got a brother."
Luke, who's 16, recently did work experience at the reptile park and said it's his passion.
"Everyone loves dogs and cats, they're fluffy and cuddly and they show affection, but snakes are different, it's more of a trust thing," he said.
"It's rewarding to build up that trust with a reptile enough for them to let you handle them."
Marbled Children's Python's don't live in the wild, and Luke said it was sad to think that someone might have dumped their pet.
"Marvin's only small, it's lucky he got found let alone that someone was kind enough to go to the effort to get him, a lot don't get that second chance after they've been dumped," he said.
"Even after some snakes are re-homed because they've been through stress they can be aggressive and 'bitey' so people don't want to take the time to work with them.
"If you ever think of getting a reptile or snake, don't just get it because it looks cool or your friends will like it, you have to look at the expenses and what you can do for it."
Both boys are doing TAFE courses to learn more about reptiles and hope to go into careers in that field.
