Snake Catcher Forestville

Service Locations

1 June

If there's a snake at your home, garage, shed, or property in Forestville, CALL NOW on 0418 633 474.

Stay calm and keep your distance. Move children and pets clear of the area, but keep your eyes on the snake from a safe spot. The most useful thing you can do before we arrive is maintain visual contact — a snake that's been watched is far easier to find. You don't need to take a photo or identify the species — just watch where it goes.

About Forestville

Forestville sits in the Northern Beaches Council immediately south of Frenchs Forest, with Bantry Bay Reserve wrapping the western side, the Forestville Reserve corridor threading through the centre, and the bushland of Garigal National Park forming the southern boundary. The suburb is built into the bushland rather than alongside it — the streets run between sandstone ridges and gully systems, and the typical Forestville block sits on uneven ground with mature canopy, deep garden beds and sandstone retaining walls. The result is one of the most consistently reptile-active suburbs in the Northern Beaches.

**Diamond Pythons, like this one, are among the most common species we find in Forestville**

What we see in Forestville

Diamond pythons are the species we see most often. The bushland connections to Garigal and Bantry Bay, the mature roof cavities of the older housing stock, and the cool deep gardens sustain a substantial resident python population. Roof cavities, pergolas, and sheltered garden corners are the standard callouts. Non-venomous, no threat to people, but worth removing properly when they appear in living areas.

Red-bellied black snakes work the damp gullies, drainage lines, and properties with pools, ponds or thick shaded garden beds. Consistent through summer, particularly following rain.

Golden-crowned snakes turn up in the sandstone country and shaded leaf-litter gardens, particularly after summer rain. Venomous but their bite is medically minor.

Eastern brown snakes are uncommon in Forestville — the bushland character doesn't suit them as well as the open country further west. They appear occasionally on the drier ridge blocks.

Lace monitors appear from the bushland in summer, particularly on properties backing onto Garigal or Bantry Bay Reserve. Not snakes, but a regular callout.

Blue-tongued lizards and Eastern water dragons are part of Forestville's everyday backyard wildlife. Many of the snake calls we attend turn out to be one of these — never an issue, always happy to attend and confirm.

Where snakes go on Forestville properties

The hiding spots reflect the bushland character: roof cavities and eaves for pythons, under decking and pergolas, behind hot water systems, around pool pumps and filtration boxes, in thick damp garden beds, along sandstone retaining walls, under garden edging, behind air-conditioning units, beneath outdoor furniture, and through the gaps between the house and the back bushland boundary. We work through them methodically once we arrive.

After we leave

Every Urban Reptile Removal job ends with a brief walk-through of the property. We tell you why the snake was likely there, what's drawing it in, and what you can change to reduce future activity — short grass, no clutter along the fence line, stored items lifted off the ground, gaps sealed where rodents travel, and no pet food bowls left outside overnight. No snake repellent sprays, no gimmicks. Just the things that actually work.

About Chris Williams

Urban Reptile Removal is run by Chris Williams, a professional snake catcher and herpetologist with 35 years of experience across the Greater Sydney region. Chris has worked at Taronga Zoo and the Australian Reptile Park, founded Snake Ranch (Australia's largest reptile breeding facility), and has published seven books on Australian reptiles. He has been President of the Australian Herpetological Society since 2014. He licences and trains the catchers who attend jobs across the Urban Reptile Removal network. If you're calling Urban Reptile Removal, you're calling people who know what they're doing.