Sydney mother films snake hiding among toys in child's bedroom

A Sydney mother has filmed a terrifying ordeal in which she found an alert and aggressive snake in her daughter's bedroom.

Mother Meg sent the video to Sydney radio station 2GB after discovering the 1m golden-crowned snake curled up among toys in her daughter's bedroom, which she found when she was tidying it up.

"It was a surprise visitor on a Friday night," Meg told 2GB on Monday.

A close up of the snake. Photo / Supplied

Meg said she nearly picked the snake up, initially thinking it was a shoelace. She also revealed her daughter had friends around earlier in the afternoon.

"It was later on Friday night, when I was putting the girls to bed, I stepped over a few toys because they were playing with a few friends that afternoon," Meg said.

"I thought it was a shoelace and I was going to pick it up, but I decided to turn the light on and see what it was."

In the nightmarish footage, the snake is poised in a defensive position with its neck arched up before it strikes violently at an object away from the camera.

It continues to hover with its tongue hissing while fixated on a part of the room.

The listener, Meg, then caught the snake in a container and placed it outside on a tree.

Before releasing it, however, and while it was in the container, Meg and her daughters performed a quick Google search to determine the species.

The gold-coloured markings on its head led them to believe it was a golden-crowned snake, a native Australia reptile.

Golden-crowned snakes are small, mildly venomous and typically only "mock bite" when threatened rather than injecting venom.

Meg's six-year-old daughter also named the snake.

"My daughter, Poppy, eventually named it 'Mr Snakey' and she said she missed it once we'd let it go."