By Callum Ludwig
A string of warm, sunny days at the start of September has seen snakes come out in droves earlier than usual.
Snakes were being spotted as early as last month and the expected warmer, drier conditions mean Yarra Ranges residents can expect to spot the slithery reptiles who have emerged from brumation, a process similar to hibernation for cold-blooded animals.
Snake catcher Raymond Hoser is a registered snake catcher who services the Yarra Ranges and said that once there is a string of warm weather, the snakes come out and start looking for food and somewhere to sunbathe.
“Among the calls yesterday, the snakes were travelling, they were moving sizeable distances. You say to people to keep your eye on the snakes until I get there and in the half-hour, it took me to get to the house, the snakes travelled across three properties,” he said.
“The season is running earlier this year, which doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to be busy all year, because there’s other factors at play, but it’s certainly going to be busier now for a while.”
Mr Hoser had ten calls on Tuesday 19 September for snake sightings; he caught four, two were false alarms, two were best to leave alone and two more he passed on to other nearby snake catchers.
Mr Hoser said it’s not just the warmer weather leading to the increased number of snake sightings.
“When the weather’s drier, the grass doesn’t grow as much, it gets mowed or livestock eats on the paddocks and snakes are easier to see. When there’s no long grass, they move to where there is which is inevitably on people’s properties,” he said.
“In a drought year, especially the first of the drought years, calls go up sharply because it’s not just the hot weather but it’s the dryness and the fact that vegetation is getting chopped, especially compared to something like last year where Council weren’t mowing for most of the spring because it was too wet.”
In order to dissuade snakes from entering your property or at the very least make them easy to spot, residents should keep their grass short, remove piles of items like logs, sheet metal or rubbish and make their garden less attractive to snake’s natural prey in mice and frogs.
If you find yourself very close to a snake, especially one acting in a defensive position, you should freeze until it rears down and moves away.
When walking in areas snakes may be, wear closed shoes or boots and long pants, walk where you can see where you are putting your feet, carry wide elastic bandages and ensure your mobile phone is charged.
Do not attempt to approach or handle a snake but if bitten by a snake, call 000 immediately.
If you spot a snake and it is in a location where you cannot leave it to move on of its own accord, the Department of Environment, Energy and Climate Action’s (DEECA) Customer Service Centre on 136 186 can provide a list of snake controllers in your area.
