Tess Guthrie, 22, of Lismore in the state’s north, was asleep with her daughter Zara in her bed when she woke at around 3:30am to find her cat on the bed hissing. "I heard the cat hissing on the bed which is what woke me up in the first place," Ms Guthrie told Nine News. "I thought it was a dream when I saw the python wrapped around Zara and I didn't think it was real."