CHRISTMAS has come early for one woman in Australia but the present she found wrapped around her tree was not what she had wished for.

    The woman, known only as Cheryl, discovered a tiger snake had decorated her Christmas tree like tinsel at her Frankston home in Victoria.

    The reptile with distinctive yellow and brown patterns had slithered its way through an open door of the home Sunday morning.

    Despite the terrifying ordeal, the woman remained calm when she called for help.

    Snake catcher Barry Goldman, who was called to the home, removed the snake from the property before he released it back into the wild.

    “Cheryl from Frankston got an early Christmas surprise this morning when she found a new decoration had been added to her tree,” Goldman, who runs Snake Catcher Victoria, wrote on Facebook.

    “She didn’t panic, she just took a photo and sent it to the snake catcher, me, and 20 minutes later I had the little bugger in a bag.”

    Australia is home to 20 of the world’s 25 most venomous snakes, including the tiger snake which can grow up to 2.9 meters and is usually found in coastal areas.(SD-Agencies)