Over 100 Venomous Snakes Removed From Homeowner’s Backyard

A homeowner in Australia is facing a real-life horror movie scenario after discovering over 100 venomous snakes in his backyard.

David Stein first saw around six red-bellied black snakes slithering together into a pile of mulch on his property. He called Dylan Cooper with Reptile Relocation Sydney to help him remove the venomous reptiles.

However, the situation got extreme quickly. Red-bellied black snakes tend to slither on top of one another before giving birth. As Stein raked away mulch, Cooper rounded up dozens of pregnant snakes and their newborn babies.

“Just seeing that amount in one group, it gives you a bit of the shudders,” Stein told the Associated Press.

The snakes even gave birth as Cooper was catching them, with two of the adults birthing 29 more snakes in the bag.

most of the world’s venomous snakes are native to Australia

All told, Reptile Relocation Sydney owner Cory Kerewaro said a total of five adults and 97 offspring were captured.

Kerewaro said Stein’s property was an anomaly for reptile removal. As red-bellied blacks are a species that gives birth to live offspring rather than laying eggs, it’s rare to discover so many in one place.

“You can get a decent number like that when the babies are hatching,” he explained. “But to have this many venomous snakes, no one’s come across it.”

Snake expert Scott Eipper was also baffled, noting that the extreme heat in Sydney may have triggered the extreme multiple births.

As red-bellied black snakes have litters of four to 35 at a time, it’s also thought that some of the young snakes captured may have been offspring of adults that had already left the nest.

“This is an isolated incident. It’s certainly a very rare occurrence.,” Eipper said.

Ultimately, Kerewaro received government permission to relocate the snakes—which are a protected species —to a national park.

“Because there was such a large number, obviously people were a bit concerned where 100 snakes were going to go,” Kerewaro said. “They’ll be far enough away to avoid any human interaction: 100 snakes are going into the middle of the bush in the middle of nowhere.”