A homeowner’s biggest fear comes true: Imagine finding 100 of these creatures in your backyard

When reptile catchers were brought in to remove venomous snakes from a backyard in Australia recently, what they encountered was on an unexpected, unprecedented scale.

“Gives you a bit of the shudders”

In late January, Sydney man David Stein called the snake-removal specialists at Reptile Relocation Sydney after finding a large number of red-bellied black snakes in a pile of mulch in his backyard.

“Just seeing that amount in one group, it gives you a bit of the shudders,” recalled Stein, who lives in the western Sydney suburb Horsley Park, in an interview with the Associated Press.

Speaking to the BBC, Reptile Relocation Sydney’s Cory Kerewaro revealed that his colleague, Dylan Cooper, was the first to arrive at the scene - and found a mass of snakes that would ultimately yield a record haul for the firm.

Kerewaro told the BBC he thought Cooper “was stitching me up” when the latter phoned him after reaching Stein’s property, to report: “It’s a pretty big pile... I’m already over 15 snakes!”

The reptile catchers eventually departed with many more than that.

Over 100 snakes removed from backyard

The group of snakes included five pregnant adults, who were in the process of giving birth to a final total of 97 baby snakes.

Talking to AP, Kerewaro said he was unaware of animal rescuers having ever come away with more than 30 snakes from removal assignments of this kind.

According to Australian Geographic, female red-bellied black snakes typically gather in groups when pregnant. “It’s not been confirmed why they do this, but a possible reason is protection from predators,” the nature publication says.

Per the BBC, Reptile Relocation Sydney was due to release the captured snakes back into the wild at a national park.

What to know about the red-bellied black snake

A species of snake that is indigenous to Australia, the red-bellied black snake is described by the Australian Museum as one of the most commonly encountered snakes on the country’s eastern coast.

Australian Geographic says the species is easily identifiable, on account of the stark contrast between its “glossy black” back of head and upper body, and its “light-pink to bright-red” underside.

The red-bellied black snake is responsible for “a number of bites every year”, the Australian Museum notes.

However, although Australian Geographic describes the species as “venomous and potentially deadly to people”, the magazine adds that there have so far been no recorded deaths in Australia from bites by the snake.

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