Syzmik Unleashed: One Sss-eriously Sss-cary Job!

For many of us, snakes are something better admired from a distance. Unfortunately, in Australia, a lot of the native animals can kill us! Encountering a snake in the wild is scary enough as it is, but what would you do if you found a python in your oven? Or a brown snake in your child’s bedroom?

We sat down with snake and reptile expert, Stuart McKenzie, owner of Sunshine Coast Snake Catchers, to discuss all things snakes and how he came to be the @sunshinecoastsnakecatcher.

Tell us a bit about yourself including who you are and what you do for work.

My name is Stuart McKenzie and I’m the current owner of Sunshine Coast Snake Catchers, which essentially means I'm a full-time, 24/7 Snake catcher!

Did you always know you wanted a job in this field?

I've always been interested in reptiles. My first two pets were shingle-back lizards, and I knew I wanted to work with reptiles when I was older.

I think I’ve always known I’ve wanted to work with reptiles. Not so much the snakes - that came later when I was working at Australia Zoo. I wouldn’t say I was scared of snakes as a kid, but I was certainly very wary of them! I only really started working with snakes about ten years ago but was able to take it on and learnt quickly from some highly experienced people at the zoo.

What inspires you and your work?

I enjoy the challenge - each job and snake situation are different. You’ve got to use your skills and your brain a fair bit to try and work out how to navigate different situations to catch the snakes. It’s a highly skilled industry working with very dangerous and venomous animals.

I also enjoy the challenge of running a business as well. I’m probably more business orientated than I was four to five years ago when I was out catching snakes and it was very much a hobby. But when your business gets bigger and bigger, unfortunately, you have to concentrate more on the business side of things rather than just the fun snake-catching stuff.

I think one of the biggest inspirations is educating people and trying to change their perspectives on snakes. There are still plenty of people out there who think the only good snakes are dead snakes, so that’s one thing we’re trying to change. Even just getting people to respect snakes - you don’t have to like them!

What was your first key memory in your profession?

I still remember my first call out and just the thrill of catching a wild snake at someone's house and talking to them about snakes. That’s something that was really cool!

Have there been any significant events or milestones in your profession?

I think one was making the decision to leave a full-time job and a full-time wage to take on the challenge of running my own business where you don’t know what’s coming next. That was a big milestone which, looking back on, was one of the best decisions I’ve made, but at the time it was terrifying.

Another one was landing a TV show – Aussie Snake Wranglers - on National Geographic in the middle of COVID when no networks were spending money. We're currently filming season three, it's edited and ready to go, with a release date to come.

What do you do on a day-to-day basis?

I'll try and get up really early and go to the gym just because usually, snake calls start coming in pretty early when the weather warms up. Then essentially, I’m on snake call outs, driving around the Sunshine Coast or I'm back in the office divvying out snake calls, and doing business admin. When it starts to get busy around September, I’ll go out on more snake calls – about three or four a day - but during the quieter months I’ll do more business-focused work.

Every situation is different with the snake catching process. Once we’ve caught the snake, we aim to release it straight away, so we try and find a release site based on where we found it. This might be local bushlands or somewhere that the snakes won’t retreat back to the house where we found it.

What is your favourite part about your industry/field?

The fact that every day is different, so I don't know what call is coming in next or what snake I’m going to catch. It can be repetitive in terms of invoices to write and follow up and all that sort of boring admin stuff, but at the same time, the excitement comes from what's coming next – even now I can hear the phone ringing!

If there is something you could remove from your job what would it be?

A massive part of my job is obviously speaking on the phone, my phone rings so much that there are days where I would love to throw my phone in the pool - I can have 40 or 50 phone calls in a day and only half actually turn into jobs. I actually have to change my ringtone every now and then!

If you could only have one tool for the rest of your life, what would you pick?

There are some old school snake catchers out there who don't use hooks and just use whatever's around – I don’t know why - it blows my mind! I think the hook’s very important - especially putting the hook where you don't want to put your hands, so I’d keep the hook.

What is your favourite Syzmik garment? How does it serve your job?

I love all the Syzmik gear. To be honest, one of my favourite Syzmik garments is the jumper but we don't get to wear it that often because it’s so warm up here!

My other favourite would be the Syzmik outdoor long-sleeve shirt. When we first started wearing it, it was a game changer because of how comfortable and breathable it was. It’s the original thing I got from Syzmik and still have today. Other brands I’ve had have lasted six months maximum, whereas I’ve got original Syzmik gear from two and a half years ago that are in perfect condition. I put them through everything – they just won’t rip!

What's the weirdest thing you've seen on-site?

How much time do we have?!

I went out to a call after midnight, and I could tell over the phone that they’d had a few drinks, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. They’d definitely had a few drinks and were very joyful people, they were also a bit nervous because an eight-foot carpet python was seen in their kitchen and had gone into the oven.

I thought I’d just pull the oven out and it would be curled up at the back – easy job. I pulled the oven out and the snake was nowhere to be seen, they were adamant they’d seen it and weren’t trying to play a trick on me, so I started pulling the oven apart. I got the screwdrivers out and pulled the front of the oven off (including the dash where all the knobs and stuff are) – not there – pulled the back off and looked underneath where the engine and stuff is - nothing.

I ended up pulling the side off, thinking there's no way there’s an eight-foot carpet python in the side. In the insulation section on the side of the oven - which is about an inch worth of gap - there it was, an eight-foot carpet python curled up, tightly wrapped in a perfect circle on the side of this oven. I just couldn't believe it – it was taller than me when I pulled it out!

What advice would you give yourself at the start of your career?

Probably something I didn't deal with well - and is still hard - is social media. It’s a dangerous place. People are protected by their screens, sitting behind a keyboard and there can be a lot of nasty comments and negative feedback. It’s not so much aimed at me or what I do - it’s just towards snakes.

When I was younger, I was very reactive. I’d react to those comments and then go down a wormhole and get all anxious and angry about it. It took up so much time and wasn’t worth responding to silly people.

My advice would be just focus on the positive and don't get caught up in the negativity that surrounds snakes. You can stay positive, don’t react to these silly people, and don’t give them the fuel to keep going.

Also, just being bold. I think I was bold anyway but there were moments where I didn't fully trust my decisions or didn't have confidence in the decisions I was making. So, I’d say have confidence, because it'll work out if you work hard.

What's your favourite tv show at the moment?

One that I enjoyed recently was ‘The Boys’ - it's about the superheroes in modern-day society.

What's one thing about you that would surprise other people?

I have a real passion for property and property investment!

What are you ordering at the pub?

Usually, a chicken Parmi. I've got calamari over the last few years, but sometimes it's not big enough. So usually, it's just the good old chicken Parmi.

What is one phrase your team says on-site that no one else would understand?

I guess it's probably the nicknames for snakes. For example, we’ll say “Is it an EB?” for an Eastern Brown snake.

Outside of snake-catching, what do you like to do and what does your ideal weekend look like?

I try and spend as much time as I can with my wife and our two dogs, going to the beach or just walking the dogs. We're also trying to do a bit more camping and stuff like that.

My ideal weekend would probably involve going to the gym in the morning and then heading down to the beach with the dogs and my wife for a swim. Go for a long lunch, have a few drinks down by the ocean somewhere at a pub that overlooks the ocean, catch up with friends, watch the footy and just sit around a fire - especially this time of year.
Got a snake-related questions? Want to learn more about reptiles or simply want to see all of Stuart’s latest Snake related adventures? Head on over to the Sunshine Coast Snake Catchers Instagram page and check them out!