At Sydney Snake Catcher we get a few calls about blind snakes, particularly after summer storms. People are often genuinely uncertain whether they are looking at a worm, a snake or something in between. The good news is that whatever they are looking at, the animal is completely harmless.
The Blackish Blind Snake (Anilios nigrescens) is one of about 40 species of Australian blind snakes — a family of small, worm-like, burrowing snakes that look almost nothing like their venomous cousins. Despite the name, they are true snakes, fully evolved members of the snake suborder Serpentes, just adapted for an entirely subterranean lifestyle.
The Blackish Blind Snake has a very distinctive look once you know what to look for:
The lack of a visible neck, the polished appearance, the tail spike and the barely visible eyes are the key features. These features separate blind snakes from earthworms (which have segmented bodies and no tail spike) and from juvenile elapid snakes (which have proper eyes, visible mouths and distinct heads).
This is the most common question. The differences:
This is the question that matters more. The differences from a small juvenile elapid:
If you are not sure, photograph it from a safe distance and send the image to a licensed reptile catcher.
Blackish Blind Snakes are subterranean specialists. They live almost their entire lives below ground, in association with the soft, moist soils where their preferred prey lives.
Preferred habitats:
The species is genuinely widespread across the Greater Sydney region. Almost any garden with a compost heap, a mulched bed or a moist corner under a paver has the potential to support a blind snake population. The reason they are rarely seen is simply that they almost never come to the surface.
Blackish Blind Snakes are most commonly encountered in summer, particularly after heavy rain. The trigger is straightforward: when their underground refuges flood, they are forced to the surface to avoid drowning.
The typical scenario:
If you see one, the kindest response is to gently move it to a sheltered, moist area — under a paver, deep into mulch, or near a compost heap. They are extremely vulnerable above ground.
Blackish Blind Snakes are dietary specialists. They feed almost exclusively on the eggs, larvae and pupae of ants and termites. Their evolutionary adaptations are all geared to this:
They are essentially specialised invertebrate hunters that happen to look like snakes. Their entire body plan is built around getting into and surviving inside social insect colonies long enough to eat the colony's brood.
No. Completely harmless to humans and pets. Blind snakes have no venom, and their tiny mouths cannot even grip onto human skin, let alone bite. If handled, the only defence they have is to secrete a musky-smelling fluid from glands near the cloaca. The smell is not pleasant, but it is not dangerous either.
The risk runs the other way. Blind snakes are very vulnerable above ground:
Blackish Blind Snakes have a reproductive cycle suited to their underground lifestyle:
The communal nesting habit is one of the more interesting features of the species. Finding a single blind snake in a garden often means there is a small population using the property, and the kinds of habitats they prefer (compost heaps, mulched beds, paver bases) tend to encourage continued breeding.
The answer in almost every case is to let it be — or, if it is in danger on a hot driveway or a hard surface, gently move it to a sheltered, moist area.
Practical steps:
What you should not do:
Identification of Australian blind snakes to species level is notoriously difficult. There are around 40 species in the genus Anilios, many of them visually similar, and the differences often come down to subtle features of scale count, head shield arrangement and the position of certain pores. The Blackish Blind Snake is the most common and widely distributed species in the Sydney region, but several other species do occur in the broader area.
For practical purposes — for the homeowner trying to work out what is on their patio at 11pm — knowing it is a blind snake is enough. Specific identification to species level is the job of a herpetologist with a hand lens, not a snake catcher with a torch.
The Blackish Blind Snake (Anilios nigrescens) is one of Sydney's most common but least visible native snakes. They live almost entirely underground, feeding on ant and termite brood, and only surface when heavy rain or disturbance forces them up. They are completely harmless to humans and pets, beneficial in the garden, and easily confused with worms or with juvenile venomous snakes. If you find one, the right response is to identify it carefully, move it to safety if it is exposed, and otherwise let it go about its quiet underground life.
Found a reptile you need identified or removed in Sydney? Sydney Snake Catcher operates 24/7 across the Greater Sydney region. We are fully licensed and insured, and we can identify and safely manage any reptile you encounter. Call 1300 599 938.
If you have ever been working in your garden on a warm summer afternoon and watched a slender, alert snake glide effortlessly through the foliage of a shrub or along the top of a fence, you have probably had a visit from a Green Tree Snake (Dendrelaphis punctulatus). They are one of Sydney's most commonly seen daytime snakes — and one of the easiest to live alongside, because they are completely harmless.
At Sydney Snake Catcher we get steady calls about Green Tree Snakes, particularly through the warmer months. Homeowners are often surprised to find that the snake in their hibiscus or hanging out near their pond is not only non-venomous but actively beneficial — they are voracious frog and skink hunters, and a healthy population of them is a sign that your garden has the right structure to support native wildlife.
The Green Tree Snake (Dendrelaphis punctulatus) is a non-venomous colubrid snake found across northern and eastern Australia, with populations extending into the Sydney region. They are arboreal specialists — built for climbing through vegetation — and one of the few Australian snakes that is active primarily during the day.
The Green Tree Snake is one of the easier species to identify in the Sydney region:
The big round eyes, slim build and bright yellow belly are the easiest features to spot. In good light, a Green Tree Snake moving through foliage looks almost luminous — the contrast between the green back and the yellow underbelly is striking.
The Green Tree Snake can be confused with a few species, but the differences are clear:
The combination of slender build, bright green or olive back, yellow belly and round pupils makes the Green Tree Snake quite easy to separate from anything else in the Sydney region.
Green Tree Snakes are habitat generalists with a clear preference for damp, vegetated areas with good prey populations:
Natural habitats:
Urban habitats:
They tend to do well in mature gardens with structural complexity — the kind of garden that has been allowed to develop some character over time, with shrubs, climbers, leaf litter and the occasional unkempt corner.
Green Tree Snakes are alert, fast-moving and visually-oriented. They rely heavily on their excellent eyesight to hunt and to detect threats. When approached, they typically respond by:
The blue display is one of the more spectacular reptile defensive displays in Sydney. By inflating the body and spreading the scales, the snake reveals a brilliant flash of pale blue normally hidden between scale rows. The effect is sudden and dramatic, and is intended to startle predators that have not seen the colour before.
They are also known to aggregate — particularly during cooler weather. It is not unusual to find several Green Tree Snakes sharing a roof cavity, a compost heap or a sunny rock in autumn and winter. This habit can lead to homeowners getting alarmed about "infestations" when what they are actually seeing is normal communal sheltering.
Green Tree Snakes are diurnal hunters with broad prey preferences:
The diet is focused on small, fast-moving prey that the snake's excellent eyesight and rapid strike can capture. They hunt by sight, moving through vegetation and along the ground, watching for movement and striking quickly when prey is detected.
Their fondness for frogs is one of the reasons they do so well near garden ponds and water features. A pond with a healthy frog population is a Green Tree Snake banquet.
No. Green Tree Snakes are completely harmless to humans and pets. They have no venom, no fangs designed for envenomation, and no significant defensive bite. Their teeth are small and not capable of doing real damage even if a bite occurs — which is rare, because their default response to a threat is to flee rather than fight.
If handled, a Green Tree Snake may:
None of these are dangerous. The musk smell, however, is genuinely unpleasant and lingers — another good reason to leave wild snakes alone rather than trying to pick them up.
Green Tree Snakes have one of the more remarkable communal nesting habits among Australian snakes:
The 400-egg communal nest is one of the more astonishing reptile facts in Australia. It is essentially a generational maternity ward — successive cohorts of females returning to the same proven nest site over decades. If you have such a site on your property without knowing it (most likely in a hollow log or an old compost heap), you may have far more Green Tree Snakes living on your property than you realise.
Leave it alone. Green Tree Snakes are exceptional garden residents — beautiful, harmless, beneficial and an indicator of good habitat structure.
Practical steps if you encounter one:
What you should not do:
If you want to encourage Green Tree Snakes on your property:
A property with Green Tree Snakes is a property doing something right ecologically. They are at the top of a small but functioning food chain that includes frogs, lizards, insects and the plants that support all of them.
The Green Tree Snake (Dendrelaphis punctulatus) is one of the most welcome native snakes a Sydney homeowner can find on their property — slim, fast, brightly coloured, completely harmless and genuinely beautiful. They are diurnal, easy to identify with their bright green back and yellow belly, and they thrive in mature gardens with good vegetation, frogs and structural complexity. Their presence is a sign that your property is supporting a functioning native ecosystem, and the right response to finding one is to enjoy the sight and let the snake go about its business.
Found a Green Tree Snake or another reptile at your home? Sydney Snake Catcher operates 24/7 across the Greater Sydney region. We are fully licensed and insured, and we can identify and safely manage any reptile you encounter. Call 1300 599 938.
The Diamond Python (Morelia spilota spilota) — Sydney's Iconic Native Python
If there is one snake that belongs to Sydney, it is the Diamond Python (Morelia spilota spilota). Found nowhere else in the world outside of New South Wales and a small part of eastern Victoria, the Diamond Python is the city's signature reptile — a stunning, large, completely harmless native python that has held onto its place in the urban landscape better than almost any other large native species. They are one of the few large reptiles you can genuinely encounter in a Sydney backyard, and for those of us who work with them, they are one of the most rewarding species in the Australian fauna.
At Sydney Snake Catcher we relocate more Diamond Pythons than any other species. In 2025 alone, we attended over 150 Diamond Python jobs across the Greater Sydney region — second only to the Red-bellied Black Snake in our call volume. Almost every one of those pythons was relocated calmly and safely, with no harm to the snake, the homeowner or anyone else. They are genuinely one of the easiest, most pleasant species to work with — and one of the most misunderstood by homeowners who find one on their roof or in their shed.
The Diamond Python (Morelia spilota spilota) is a subspecies of carpet python endemic to coastal and adjacent eastern New South Wales and a small part of eastern Victoria. They are the southernmost-distributed python species in the world, adapted to cooler conditions than any of their tropical relatives, and one of the most beautiful snakes anywhere on the planet.
The Diamond Python is one of the most distinctive snakes in the Sydney region:
The rosette pattern is the defining feature. No other snake in Australia has quite this combination of yellow rosettes on a dark background. Once you have seen a Diamond Python in good light, you will never confuse it with anything else.
Diamond Pythons are one of the few large native reptiles that have genuinely persisted in suburban Sydney. They occupy a wide range of habitats:
A property does not need to be on the bush edge to host Diamond Pythons. We regularly attend jobs in densely settled suburbs where the local python population has been quietly living in roof cavities and garden corners for years without the homeowners ever realising.
One of the defining features of urban Diamond Pythons in Sydney is their use of roof cavities and ceiling spaces. The pattern is consistent across decades of observation:
This habit is genuinely beneficial. A Diamond Python in your roof is the most effective rodent control system you can have — quiet, free, and ecologically appropriate. The downside is that the same python may also take roof-dwelling possums, which some homeowners value.
If you have a Diamond Python in your roof and you can tolerate its presence, the best thing to do is leave it alone. If you cannot tolerate it, a licensed reptile catcher can remove and relocate it — but be aware that an attractive roof will likely be recolonised by another python in due course.
Diamond Pythons are one of the calmest, most placid snakes in Australia. We have relocated hundreds of them, and the typical experience is striking in how undramatic it is:
This temperament is one of the reasons we recommend that homeowners who find a Diamond Python do not panic. Unlike many snakes, Diamond Pythons can often be allowed to move on of their own accord without any drama. They are simply not interested in confrontation.
The famous trick we sometimes recommend to homeowners is this: name the snake. Once a homeowner has called their resident python "Bruce" or "Stella" or "Diamond Jim," they tend to develop a relationship with the animal rather than a problem with it. The python's status shifts from "scary intruder" to "garden character," and the next time it appears, the response is curiosity rather than fear.
Diamond Pythons are constrictors. They have no venom and rely on overpowering and constricting their prey. Their diet shifts with age and circumstance:
Juveniles:
Adults:
The taste for possums is one of the reasons Diamond Pythons do so well in suburban Sydney. A leafy suburb supporting a healthy possum population is essentially a Diamond Python buffet. We regularly find pythons with enormous food bulges from a recent possum meal — sometimes the meal is so large the snake cannot move properly and needs to be left to digest.
The famous "possum food coma" is one of the more reliable ways to encounter a Diamond Python. After a large meal, the snake will retreat to a quiet basking spot and remain there, almost immobile, for days or even weeks while the meal digests. Many of our call-outs are to homeowners who have found a python in this state and assumed something is wrong with it. Nothing is wrong — it has just eaten a possum.
For humans, no. Diamond Pythons are non-venomous, and the calm temperament means bites are extraordinarily rare. We have never had a serious human injury from a Diamond Python relocation in over thirty years of doing this work.
That said, a few caveats are worth noting:
For pets, the picture is more nuanced:
The straightforward rule: respect Diamond Pythons, do not handle them, secure your livestock and small pet animals, and you will have no problems with them.
Diamond Pythons have one of the most interesting reproductive cycles among Australian snakes:
The maternal incubation behaviour is one of the most striking features of the species. Diamond Pythons are one of the very few snakes in the world that actively warm their eggs through their own body heat. The female maintains the clutch at approximately 30°C through controlled muscle contractions, allowing the eggs to develop reliably even in the cooler conditions of southeastern Australia.
Stop, take a breath and recognise that you have found one of Sydney's most beautiful native animals.
Practical steps:
What you should not do:
We end by making a case that many readers may not expect from a snake catcher: try, if you can, to live alongside your Diamond Python rather than removing it.
A Diamond Python in your garden:
Properties with resident Diamond Pythons are often the same properties with the most thriving native wildlife generally. Their presence is a sign that your garden is doing something right. We routinely encourage homeowners to think of their python not as a problem to be solved but as a partner in keeping the local ecology in balance.
That said, if removal is genuinely needed — a python in an aviary, a chicken coop being raided, a snake in a building where it cannot be safely tolerated — we are here. Sydney Snake Catcher relocates Diamond Pythons routinely, professionally and humanely. Every Diamond Python we handle is released into suitable habitat away from the property of concern.
The Diamond Python (Morelia spilota spilota) is Sydney's signature snake — a large, beautiful, non-venomous native python found nowhere else in the world outside of New South Wales and eastern Victoria. They are present across all five distribution zones of the Greater Sydney region, and they have adapted to suburban life better than almost any other large native reptile. Calm, charismatic and genuinely beneficial, they are one of the species that makes Sydney's wildlife distinctive. If you find one in your garden or your roof, the best response is calm appreciation rather than panic — and if you genuinely need it moved, a licensed reptile catcher can do it without harm to you, the snake or anyone else.
Found a Diamond Python or another snake at your home? Sydney Snake Catcher operates 24/7 across the Greater Sydney region. We are fully licensed and insured, and we relocate Diamond Pythons and all other native reptiles humanely. Call 1300 599 938.
