Fremantle is fast establishing itself as a food bartering hub, but one man's request for the loan of a hungry carpet python in exchange for some sausages ranks among the most unique swap proposals yet.
South Fremantle resident Pip Darvall has had enough from a rampaging rat plague, so he took to online trade platform Gumtree on Tuesday to look for somebody to loan him a snake to help deal with the problem.
"Please loan us your carpet snake to get rid of the rats in our roof, they are driving us mad. I don't like poisons and they are too smart to get caught in the traditional traps I have set," Mr Darvall's ad reads.
He wasn't expecting someone to offer their slithery friend up for free with Mr Darvell offering to exchange some home-made delicacies for the use of the reptile.
"Will exchange homemade marmalade, bacon, pork and fennel sausages or similar. And your python will have the feed of a lifetime."
Mr Darvall, who hails from northern New South Wales, said people regularly put carpet pythons into the roofs of houses to deal with vermin in his home state.
"The snakes eat all the rats, and when they are all gone, they move on," he said.
So far Mr Darvall had a few replies to his ad, but no snakes have been swapped thus far.
"Some people have recommended using a ceramic python [as a decoy], they say that can work.
"But I'm still hoping someone with a real snake will come along to clean out the roof."
He said anyone with a suitable snake handy should give him a call.
