UP to 30 snakes are on the loose in Culcairn after their owner set them free from his burning rental property on Sunday night.
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Amateur snake breeder Richard Sutton had recovered only two of the non-venomous pythons by late yesterday afternoon.
“I found two slithering along a footpath near the house,” he said.
“I’m waiting to hear someone scream because they have come across one.”
His rare collection of snakes include black-headed pythons, north-western albino carpet snakes and water pythons, with some measuring four metres in length.
Mr Sutton, his partner and two daughters were not home at the time of the fire and the cause is still being investigated.
The blaze started in the kitchen and spread to the roof, with 70 per cent of the brick four-bedroom house in Kirndeen Street sustaining water damage.
“We were at my mother’s house, which is nearby, when we saw smoke,” Mr Sutton said.
“We went to investigate and discovered it was our house.
“I pushed the screen off a window and let the snakes out.
“I have incubators with many eggs ready to hatch.
“There would have been close to 80 snakes, but most of the eggs would not have survived.”
Mr Sutton’s collection of reptiles also extends to lizards and turtles, which mostly survived.
The family’s contents were insured but Mr Sutton said it would not cover the $50,000 worth of equipment in his snake room, let alone the cost of his snakes.
It is the second house fire the family has experienced after a blaze at their rental property saw them move to Culcairn from Balranald four months ago.
That fire was caused by rats in the roof cavity and occurred while the family was sleeping.
“I am just glad we weren’t home, we could have been sleeping at that time of night,” Mr Sutton said.
The family have been able to salvage some items, including photographs.
Culcairn fire captain Barry Fisher said a neighbour reported the fire after seeing smoke coming from the roof.
The roof was well alight when firefighters arrived at 10.44pm.
The fire took more than an hour to extinguish.
If anyone comes across the snakes, phone Mr Sutton on 0434 494 492.
