It's not only people who live in houses.

When the owner of a two-story residence near a field in San Antonio, Nueva Ecija went abroad last month, the caretaker he hired to watch over the house quickly realized that he was not alone.

He asked for help from Rex Mallari, who went to the house. The snake hunter caught two 5-foot-long cobras hiding inside an old piano, GMA Regional TV One North Central Luzon reported.

Mallari also caught a third cobra in the living room. He turned over the snakes, which had likely come from the field to wildlife authorities.

The caretaker was lucky the venomous snakes did not bite him.

In Antequera, Bohol, a motorcycle rider braked to let a snake cross the road on 20 December.

Boljulio Aleria waited for the python to get across when it suddenly attacked him.

Aleria tried to pull the snake off but was bitten in the arm. The python then wrapped itself around him and was about to squeeze tight when the unthinkable happened.

In a reversal of roles, he grabbed the snake with his free hand and bit it in its neck hard, News 5 Everywhere reported. The prey bit the predator several times, killing it.

Bystanders rushed the injured Aleria to a hospital in Tagbilaran City, where he was declared out of danger.    

WJG @tribunephl_wjg