A huge brown snake measuring nearly two metres in length has been found in a backyard.
Snake catchers described the huge reptile as a 'whopper' as they were called to rescue it from the courtyard of palliative care centre Clare Holland House, in Canberra.
The snake weighed more than 1kg and measured 1.8metres.
Gavin Smith, from the ACT Snake Removals, said the reptile was about three times heavier than a regular brown snake.
He said: 'To give you some idea of its excessive bulk, proportionate to the average adult brown snake that weighs maybe 650g, this guy approximately three times heavier and resembled a python in girth.
'You certainly don't get that big and strong without being a decent age, and having a lot of sense. What a truly magnificent and majestic being!'
ACT snake catcher Gavin Smith encountered the largest eastern brown snake he'd ever seen on Monday after people at a palliative care centre in Canberra saw the reptile in the courtyard
Mr Smith said because of its size the eastern brown snake was likely feeding on large prey items such as rabbits
Mr Smith said at that size it was likely the massive snake had fattened up on larger prey items like rabbits.
The reptile was safely relocated to an area that was almost identical to where it would have come from.
Mr Smith received some feedback after posting pictures of the encounter to social media, with one man pointing out the snake had to be at least 20-years-old.
'Awesome, what a whopper! Stay safe snakey,' one Facebook user wrote.
'What a very beautiful snake,' another added.
'Yikes!' a third user replied.
The eastern brown snake is responsible for more deaths in Australia than any other species of snake.
Their habitat is most of eastern Australia from the desert to the coast but they seem to favour grasslands, pastures and woodlands.
However a brown snake, like many other species, will flee rather than attack a human.
The snake weighed more than 1kg and was 1.8m long which prompted a social media user to speculate that it had to be close to 20-years-old