WATCH: 3 metre python pokes head out of spices shelf as woman shops

An Australian woman was left in a state of shock and “excitement” after a being greeted by a 3-metre-long python while shopping for spices in a supermarket in Sydney, Australia, on Monday.

Speaking to the Associated Press, Helaina Alati said she was browsing the spices aisle when the non-venomous diamond python poked its head out of the shelf.

“I was in the spice aisle just looking for something to put on my chicken that night so I didn’t initially see it because it was curled up way back behind the little jars of spices. I kind of turned to my right and it poked its head out,” she was quoted as saying.

Alati, a trained snake catcher, said the incident “shocked me a little bit because I wasn’t expecting it”. This despite the snake’s head coming within 20cm of hers.

She told the staff about it and went out for her snake-catching bag and caught the reptile and released it into the wild.

Watch the video shared by CBS News on Twitter:

Back home, the City of Ekurhuleni has sounded an alarm over the snakes that will be coming out to play now that the weather is getting warmer.

Snakes will be coming out in search for food after months of hibernation.

The city has called on pet owners to be on high alert as their animals could fall prey to snakes. The city has also warned residents to refrain from killing harmless snakes should they spot them in their backyards.

The killing or capturing as pets of the harmless variety of snakes is illegal, it said.

“From mid-August until late May is snake season and a number of snakes, which are harmless to humans, such as the brown house snake, Aurora house snake, olive house snake and red-lipped snake, which are likely to be found in backyard gardens searching for food like rats and cats,” said the city in a statement.

READ MORE: Snake season has arrived: Here are the kinds to beware of this spring

Compiled by Vhahangwele Nemakonde