Cairns man dies a week after being bitten by taipan in his lounge room

An elderly Cairns man has died after spending almost a week in hospital following a bite on the foot by a large taipan that slithered into his lounge room.

David Pitt, 77, went into cardiac arrest after the highly venomous snake bit him at his Yorkeys Knob home as he was trying to remove it at about 8pm last Tuesday. 

Neighbours who rushed to help said he was trying to use kitchen tongs to get rid of the deadly reptile. 

Mr Pitt was revived and put in intensive care in Cairns Hospital but died yesterday.

Quick-thinking paramedic Valerie Noble raced a dose of anti-venom to Mr Pitt's house, while listening to officers who were at the scene detail the man's rapid decline over radio.

"I picked up the anti-venom from the hospital and drove it out to the scene where (officers) were performing CPR," she said.

"Shortly after giving the anti-venom we got a pulse back (but) the patient was still quite fragile."

Ms Noble said Mr Pitt was trying to kill or chase the snake out of his house when he was bitten.

"But the snake was obviously quite fast and bit him," she said.

"There was quite a lot of blood ... so potentially the snake has hit a vein ... a rapid almost injection of the venom."

The coastal taipan is Australia's largest venomous snake, with some adults growing two metres long.

Authorities have warned people to be on the lookout for snakes, who are active at this time of year.