[Tom McReen]

Jeff Hosie arms himself in anticipation of the snake's return.

* Man says snake is stalking him
* Says snake crawled into his bed and bit him
* Attacks man's son following night

A MAN has told of how a snake is stalking his Territory home after it slid into his bed and bit him on the face while he slept.

Jeff Hosie got the fright of his life when he woke to a snake latched on to his nose, the Northern Territory News reports.

And he says the snake returned the next night - only this time it crawled into bed with his 16-year-old son Nathan and bit him on the back of his leg.

"He's a rogue snake - he's got us twice now," he said.

"He's like a stalker snake.

"I can't believe it is just crawling into our beds. They normally stay away."

The snake drama began early Tuesday morning when Mr Hosie, 41, woke in excruciating pain in his bed at the no-wall humpy-style tin shed he calls his home in Howard Springs about 4.50am.

"It was pretty freaky - I just woke up and felt pain so went to swipe my nose and there was a snake hanging off it," he said.

"It sunk its fangs in real good."

NT snake wrangler Chris Peberdy said the slithery culprit is likely to be a non-venomous slatey- grey species.

"The slatey-greys are a naturally aggressive snake and are common in Darwin's rural area," he said. "Thankfully they are not venomous but they do have a lot of fight in them and will strike as a defence mechanism."

He urged people to just call the snake catcher hotline - 1800 453 210 - if they find a snake on their property rather than risk being bitten while interfering with it.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574...-13762,00.html