SYDNEY — This will make you shudder.
An Australian man thought there were six venomous red-bellied black snakes slithering in a pile of mulch in his backyard. Instead, there were 102 of them -- including 97 babies.
Sydney resident David Stein called for help after discovering the reptiles last week, News.com.au reported.
After Stein’s wife learned that female snakes tend to group together while giving birth, the couple enlisted the help of snake catchers from Reptile Relocation Sydney.
“Remain calm and focused,” the relocation website advises.
The Steins disagreed.
“Just seeing that amount in one group, it gives you a bit of the shudders,” Stein told ABC News.
Snake catcher Dylan Cooper arrived and bagged the reptiles, SkyNews reported.
Reptile Relocation Sydney owner Cory Kerewaro told ABC News that two of the captured adults gave birth to a total of 29 snakes in the bag while Cooper was still digging through the mulch.
“Snake after snake, they just kept being uncovered,” Reptile Relocation Sydney wrote in a Facebook post. Long story short, we went for four adults and came out with 102 snakes in total.”
Kerewaro told SkyNews that the highest number he had heard about giving birth was 30 non-venomous carpet pythons. He added that red-bellied black snakes are venomous, CNN reported.
“You can get a decent number like that when the babies are hatching,” Kerewaro told SkyNews. “But to have this many venomous snakes, no one’s come across it.”
Kerewaro told CNN that it took three hours to remove all of the snakes.
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