A mother is urging Riverina residents to be on the lookout after a snake bit her five-year-old.
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Edwina O'Brien said her young daughter, Natalie, had been playing on the verandah of their home in town at The Rock when she came in complaining of a splinter.
"She showed me, and I realised it did not look like a splinter, but it seemed like a bite," she said.
"She did not have any symptoms at all, but I got my partner to straight away take her to Wagga Base Hospital.
"When they arrived, the hospital staff said it seemed like a dry snake bite as there was no venom."
Ms O'Brien said it had been such a shock as her daughter had been quietly playing on the deck when the snake came up and bit her.
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She added it was a relief that it was not life-threatening but was concerned that a snake would attack unprovoked.
"This is the first one I have seen. You think you would be fine on a tiny verandah, but I think it came up for the tiny water dish.
"To bite a kid that was not even chasing it or cornering it, is pretty scary."
Ms O'Brien said her former partner still living on a Yerong Creek farm had told her snakes seemed more vicious of late.
Natalie is exhausted, but feeling well after being released from hospital after a 24-hour stay as a precaution.
Wagga's "snake man" Tony Davis told The Daily Advertiser there is a big chance that he will be catching more snakes in the fast-approaching breeding season.
Because of COVID-19 more people are at home and out in the yard and will have more of a chance at seeing them," he said in September.
"The likelihood of a good grain season, which is going to bring out more mice ... and also the wet weather we are having will mean more frogs around, which is bringing more food sources out."
Mr Davis said people cannot keep a snake out of their yard, but they are able to keep it clean and tidy so that there is no rubbish for snakes to hide in.
The Australian Red Cross said in the case of a snake bite, get the person away from the snake, call Triple-Zero, follow basic life support guidelines if needed, apply a pressure immobilisation bandage and don't wash the bite area as venom left on the skin can help identify the snake.