'Brutal' snake tries to eat lorikeet while hanging upside down from gutter

A carpet python bit off more than it could consume when it tried to eat a rainbow lorikeet in Queensland.

The snake was spotted eating the native bird, while hanging upside from a gutter in Buderim last week.

Stuart McKenzie from Sunshine Coast Snake Catchers 24/7 posted photos of the snake to Facebook yesterday.

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While confronting, McKenzie said snakes play an extremely important role in the environment.

Pythons are not venomous but can inflict a "painful bite", the Australian Museum says.

They are ambush attackers and kill by tightly wrapping around prey and suffocating it.

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"Nature can be incredible and brutal at the same time," McKenzie wrote.

"Yes, snakes may eat beautiful birds or soft and cuddly possums from time to time, but remember one of the main food items they eat are rodents.

"Who doesn't like free rodent control around your home?"

Despite the snake's best efforts, McKenzie said the reptile didn't eat the native bird.

"It seemed like the snake gave up," he said.

When the reptile catcher picked the bird up, it was "extremely cold", so he speculated it would've been too hard to digest.

The python was successfully relocated.

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