Gardener mistakes two metre long snake lying in grass for fallen tree branch, picks it up (photos)

A gardener from Queensland nearly got bitten by a snake when he mistook the reptile for a fallen branch of a plant.

He shared his chilling experience on social media, where he also posted a photo of snake lying flat next to his garden in the early hours of the morning.

“I initially thought it was a branch that had fallen. But as the eyes cleared at 6am this morning, it was apparent it was no branch,” says the gardener.

The snake, he adds, turned out to be a coastal carpet python. It was lying in the grass close to a green hose.

The gardener couldn’t easily spot it because of the dim light in the morning. He only found out after he accidentally picked it up.

He notified his partner and they measured the reptile’s length. It measured about two metres.

Luckily, nobody was hurt.