A 77-year-old man is fighting for life after being bitten by a taipan snake between his toes in his home north of Cairns, in far north Queensland.

The man was in his living room at suburban Yorkeys Knob at about 8pm on Tuesday when he was bitten by the 1.5-metre-long reptile.

The man was bitten while attempting to chop the snake’s head off.

The man went into cardiac arrest and was resuscitated by paramedics.

He remains in intensive care in a critical condition.

Paramedic Valerie Noble said the taipan bit him when he tried to kill it.

“The patient had attempted to chop the head off and that’s when the snake had bitten him, so it was definitely dead on arrival,” she said.

“It was on his right foot, so he wasn’t wearing any shoes and it’s gone in between his toes — quite a nasty bite,” she said.

The snake is now dead.

Coastal taipans are the sixth most venomous snake in the world and the largest venomous snake in Australia.

Their poison affects the nervous system and the blood’s ability to clot.

Bites are always fatal if left untreated.

– ABC