Wildlife Rescue
There is a snake in your home
Macau's land snakes, several species, some venomous
Most snakes that wander indoors are simply looking for shade, water or prey, and they want to leave. You cannot reliably tell a venomous snake from its head shape, so treat every snake as potentially dangerous: do not handle it, keep your distance, and let trained responders remove it.
What to do
- Keep everyone, including pets, calm and well back, as a snake can strike up to about half its body length.
- If you can do it safely, get people and pets out of that room.
- Contain the snake by closing the door and blocking the gap underneath with a rolled towel so it stays in one room.
- Note the snake's size, colour and location, but do not approach for a closer look or a photo.
- Call the authorities to have it caught and removed, and do not attempt this yourself.
- If someone is bitten, call 999 immediately, keep them still with the bitten limb below heart level, and get them to hospital.
What NOT to do
- ×Do not try to catch, trap, hit or kill the snake, as most bites happen when people interfere with it.
- ×Do not try to judge whether it is venomous by its head shape, there is no reliable rule.
- ×Do not corner it or block its only route back outside.
- ×Do not apply a tourniquet, cut the wound, or try to suck out venom after a bite.
When to step in
Do not physically intervene with the snake at all. Your only jobs are to contain the room and call for professional removal. If a person or pet is bitten, that is an immediate medical emergency.
See a vet urgently if...
- !The snake is cornered, coiled, hissing or has raised the front of its body in a defensive posture
- !It is in a room with children or pets, or near where people sleep
- !Anyone has been bitten (emergency, call 999)
- !A pet is showing swelling, drooling, weakness or collapse after contact with a snake
Who to call
Call the Macau emergency line 999 for a snake indoors or any snakebite, and IAM (Municipal Affairs Bureau) handles wildlife removal, Civic Service Hotline (853) 2833 7676. For a bitten pet, call Royal Veterinary Centre 24/7 on +853 6677 6611 and come straight in.
Legal note
Native snakes are wildlife and are protected, so they should be removed and released by trained handlers through the proper channel, not caught or kept.
In Macau
Snakes are most active in Macau's warm, wet months and turn up in gardens, ground-floor flats and near the Coloane and Taipa hillsides, so screened doors and clearing rubble and long grass around the home reduce visits.
Snakes are shy and would far rather avoid you, and they play a valuable role in Macau's ecosystem by keeping rats and other pests in check.
Related care sheets
General guidance reviewed by the Royal Veterinary Center team. Not a substitute for a veterinary examination. Always confirm species-specific and legal requirements for Macau.