MELBOURNE: It may be trying to disguise itself as tinsel, but look more closely and this is a deadly tiger snake which climbed up a Christmas tree in Australia.
A woman called Cheryl noticed the uninvited and highly venomous guest in her Melbourne home on Sunday but kept her cool -- making a cup of tea while she waited for a professional snake-catcher to arrive.
"It was a tiger snake. They are very deadly but only if you hurt them," snake-catcher Barry Goldsmith, who removed the reptile, told AFP Monday.
"It probably came in through an open door, but Cheryl was very sensible about it.
"She didn´t panic, she just took a photo and sent it to the snake-catcher, me, and 20 minutes later I had the little bugger in a bag."
Australia is home to 20 of the world´s 25 most venomous snakes, including the tiger snake which can grow up to 2.9 metres (10 feet) and is usually found in coastal areas.