A snake launches for a camera. Cory Kerewaro said it was the biggest find of snakes his company has made. Photo: Supplied / Cory Kerewaro
More than 100 venomous snakes have been captured in a backyard in Sydney's west in what snake catchers said was their biggest find ever.
The homeowners at Horsley Park noticed snakes disappearing into a mulch pile on their property over the past two weeks.
Reptile Relocation Sydney owner Cory Kerewaro said his snake catchers were called to the property last Friday after the owner's dog was bitten.
Kerewaro said his colleague, Dylan, arrived expecting to remove four red-bellied black snakes but instead pulled out just over 40.
He said that number grew to about 102 after they checked on the females they had caught and found they had given birth.
A bunch of red-bellied black snakes. The snakes will be released into a national park. Photo: Supplied / Cory Kerewaro
"There was just over 40 that we pulled out of the pile and then when we went to leave the property," he said.
"We checked the bags … and two of them had given birth and it brought the number up to around 70.
"Then by the time we got them back home to do a proper count and to check over them and stuff like that, the others gave birth and ended up being 102 in total."
There were so many snakes, Kerewaro said, that snake catchers enlisted the help of the homeowners to round them all up.
"They ended up actually chucking on a pair of boots and long pants and help rake through the pile," he said.
"They got on board and took three hours in total to get through and get it all.
A snake pokes its head out of a mound. Snake catchers say the reptiles were hiding in mulch in a backyard. Photo: Supplied / Cory Kerewaro
"If they didn't help, we probably would have called it a day and went back the next day to keep going."
Snake catchers celebrate big find
Kerewaro said it was the biggest find of snakes his company had made, and that researchers were looking into the discovery.
"I've spoken to some colleagues and guys who write scientific papers … and this is definitely something that is going to be recorded and used," he said.
"We don't know anyone else that's found such a large volume of red-bellied black snakes in one spot."
Red-bellied black snakes are commonly found in eastern New South Wales and Victoria, according to the Australian Museum.
More than 100 snakes found in Sydney backyard. Photo: Supplied / Cory Kerewaro
Females usually gather in small groups of six towards the end of the pregnancies, supposedly for greater protection against predators.
They give birth to between five and 18 young enclosed in a membranous sac.
The snakes can be venomous to humans and, if bitten, can cause symptoms of swelling, nausea, vomiting, headache, diarrhoea and muscle pain.
"I know colleagues that have had their fingers chopped off, amputated after the bite. It can be quite serious," Kerewaro said.
"I had a colleague who went into renal failure last year as well. He nearly died from it."
He said his company has been granted approval by National Parks and Wildlife to release the snakes into the wilderness.
"We got the approval yesterday to go in and open some gates in the National Park and go deep in the National Park where no one is going to be."
- ABC
