A NORMALLY quiet time of year has proven very busy for a Central West snake catcher, and there are some good reasons why.
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Jake Hansen spends his time travelling the region to remove snakes that slither into unusual places.
By the half-way stage of April, Mr Hansen had already caught more snakes than he normally does across the entire month.
“For what is commonly a very quiet time of year, as cooler temperatures set in and snake activity is low, it was a very unseasonably busy time,” he said.
“In about a-week-and-a-half we had as many snakes as we had for all April last year.”
When asked about the cause of the increased sightings, he said there were “a couple of factors at play”.
The major one is the weather, which has been a lot hotter than the Central West has become used to in April.
Being cold-blooded, snakes enjoy the warm weather and as a result have been more active.
The warm weather has also encouraged people to spend more time outdoors, increasing the chances of an encounter.
Recently, Mr Hansen has been called to remove tiger snakes, highland copperheads and red belly black snakes, along with the occasional eastern brown.
Mr Hansen has also removed a few baby snakes, which would have been born sometime during January, February and March.
“The vast majority of calls for me are to the houses on the fringe of urban areas, especially in the new developments,” he said.