COURIER MAIL (Brisbane, Australia) 24 September 13 Red belly black snakes yet to be caught in Springfield family's backyard (Guy Creighton)
A Brisbane mother says her family isn't afraid to step outside despite having two male red-belly black snakes still on the loose in the backyard.
Despite several visits by snake catchers in the past week, the venomous snakes are still seeking refuge in the Broad family backyard as they battle over a female.
The snakes are living under a swimming pool rock at the back of Anita and Tony Broad's Springfield home, and come out regularly to fight.
Mrs Broad, a mother-of-twin girls aged 12, hopes the reptiles can be caught and relocated before one of them wins and the act of mating occurs.
"We haven't caught them yet because they don't come out all the time, it's only when the weather is permitting," she said.
"If it's windy or if it's raining, they won't come out - it really has to be hot and dry for them to come out of the rock."
The dry weather combined with high temperatures has sent many snakes slithering into the suburbs in recent weeks, in search of water.
But Mrs Broad, who snapped images of the feuding snakes with her camera, said the snakes had come for other reasons.
The house backs on to bushland, and Mrs Broad said development at the local school had triggered visits from all kinds of wildlife.
Other visitors have included a carpet python, green snake, a deadly eastern brown and lizards.
"We're used to this kind of thing," she said.
"What the red bellies did was impressive, but we have wildlife visiting the backyard all the time.
"We're not scared."
Despite the Broad family's brave stance, the red-belly black snake can kill, but is less venomous than other Australian snakes.
The family is, however, calling a bobcat in this week to avoid a similar event in the future.
"Hopefully if we clear out the area at the back of the pool, snakes won't try to hide there again," Mrs Broad said.
She plans to have a snake catcher present when the bobcat clears the yard so the snakes can be removed safely.
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