Prospect is built around one of the most significant pieces of reptile habitat in Western Sydney. Prospect Reservoir is Sydney’s largest reservoir — over 50,000 megalitres of water held back by a 2.2 kilometre earth-fill dam wall, with the 520-hectare lake surrounded by Prospect Nature Reserve. The reserve itself is protected bushland and closed to the public, which has left it functioning as one of the largest undisturbed snake and reptile refuges in the entire Sydney basin. Snakes and goannas have lived there in numbers for over a century, and they do not stay inside the boundary.
If you have spotted a snake in Prospect, call Sydney Snake Catcher on 1300 599 938. We are the original and longest-running snake catching business of its kind in NSW, licensed, insured, and available every day of the year.
If you see a snake in Prospect:
You do not need to take a photo. You do not need to identify the snake. You do not need to follow it or get close. But if you can, try to keep a visual on the snake from a safe distance. If it disappears into cover, keep watching the spot where you last saw it — snakes will often reappear within minutes once the area goes quiet. Knowing where the snake last was makes our job much faster when we arrive. We stay on the phone with you, explain everything clearly, and guide you through the process from the moment you call.
Almost every snake call we attend in Prospect — and a substantial number of the calls we attend in adjoining Wetherill Park, Greystanes and Pemulwuy — traces back to the reservoir and its surrounding nature reserve. The protected bushland inside the boundary supports a year-round breeding population of native reptiles. The reservoir itself provides a permanent water source. The surrounding reserves and creek lines provide cover. The result is that the reservoir functions as a reptile factory, and the offspring move outward through the surrounding landscape every season.
We attend the Prospect Reservoir site regularly. The grounds, the water authority infrastructure and the management buildings around the perimeter all see reptile activity throughout the warmer months, and we are called for reptile relocations across the precinct as required.
The snakes we catch in residential Prospect, and most of the snakes we catch on the Wetherill Park business park sites, were almost certainly born within a few kilometres of where they were caught — inside the reservoir bushland.
Four reptiles account for almost every callout we attend in Prospect.
Red-bellied Black Snake. Red-bellies are the species we most strongly associate with the Prospect Reservoir landscape. They thrive around permanent water — frogs, lakes, wetlands, creek lines — and the reservoir and its drainage system are ideal habitat. We see red-bellies on residential properties along the Prospect Highway corridor, in gardens with ponds or pools, and on the commercial sites in Wetherill Park that back onto reserve. Venomous, but generally far less defensive than browns. They will move away if given the chance.
Eastern Brown Snake. Browns are the second most common species in Prospect, more often encountered on the drier, open-grass margins of the suburb — the verges along the M4 corridor, the older industrial lots, the paddock edges that still exist around the suburb’s fringes. Browns follow mice and rats, and the rodent population sustained by the reservoir bushland and the surrounding industrial activity gives them plenty of reason to be here. Fast, alert, and highly venomous. Step back, keep a visual from a safe distance, and call us.
Lace Monitor. Lace monitors — large native goannas, sometimes over two metres in length — live in significant numbers in the bushland around Prospect Reservoir. They climb, they swim, and they have learned to forage on the edges of the reserve. We are called for lace monitors in Prospect more often than for any other goanna species, and the calls are concentrated on properties adjacent to the reserve, on the reservoir grounds themselves, and on commercial sites in Wetherill Park where a goanna has wandered in to investigate food waste, bins or break areas. Lace monitors are not venomous. They are, however, large, fast when they want to be, equipped with serious claws, and capable of giving a nasty bite if cornered. We attend, identify, and either relocate the animal or, where it is safely in transit and not at risk, leave it to move on. Lace monitors are protected native wildlife and a sign of a healthy local environment.
Blue-tongued Lizard. Not a snake, but the reptile we are called out for almost as often. Blue-tongues are large, slow-moving native skinks that are frequently mistaken for snakes because of their size and the way they flatten their bodies when threatened. They are harmless, beneficial, and an important part of a healthy garden — they eat snails, slugs and beetles. We are happy to attend, identify the animal on site, and where appropriate leave it where it is or relocate it to a safer part of the property.
Snake calls from the Wetherill Park business park — warehouses, distribution centres, food production sites and logistics facilities that sit immediately east of the reservoir — are a regular part of our work, and most of those snakes started life inside the Prospect bushland. Snakes do not respect property boundaries. A red-belly or brown will follow water, rodents and cover from the reserve out through the drainage system, across the road network, and into the loading bays and grassed perimeters of the business park.
If you are managing a commercial site in the Wetherill Park / Prospect Highway corridor and you see snakes regularly, that is not a coincidence and it is not a sign of poor site management. It is a function of where the site sits in the landscape. We attend these sites with the agreed response procedure, work alongside WHS protocols and provide documentation for incident records on request.
Residential properties in Prospect tend to give snakes very similar entry points to other Western Sydney suburbs — garage corners, garden beds with thick mulch, sheds and pool equipment housings, retaining walls, fence lines backing onto reserve, stormwater pits, and undisturbed corners of yards. What is distinctive about Prospect is the proximity to the reservoir bushland. Properties along the southern and eastern boundary of the nature reserve see consistently elevated activity, and homes with established gardens that connect — through hedges, garden beds or unmowed strips — to the reserve boundary effectively act as continuations of the bushland.
On commercial sites in the surrounding business parks, the hotspots are the warehouse perimeters, the grass strips along fence lines, the pallet stacks and the loading dock areas. Lace monitors in particular will turn up at the building edge, around bin enclosures and along landscaped frontages.
Powders, sprays and ultrasonic “snake repellents” do not work. The marketing is persistent and the products are profitable, but they do not reduce snake activity in any meaningful way. What works in Prospect specifically is anything that makes your property less continuous with the reserve bushland. Mowed grass and clear sight lines along the property boundary make snakes far less likely to settle. Tidy sheds, garages and pool equipment areas remove the warm undisturbed corners they look for. Reducing rodent activity removes the main reason snakes come in. Sealing gaps under sheds, decks and outbuildings closes off the spaces they hide in. Keeping garden beds thinned out along the side of the property that faces the reserve makes a noticeable difference on properties near the boundary.
Snakes inside a Prospect home, business or warehouse are an emergency. They can enter through open doors, gaps under garage rollers, loading dock openings, plumbing penetrations or cracks beneath external doors. We attend snake-inside-the-building jobs across Prospect and the surrounding business parks throughout the warmer months and respond quickly. We remove the snake, clear the affected area, and ensure the premises is secure before we leave. Site documentation and incident records are provided on request.
Sydney Snake Catcher is the original and longest-running snake catching business of its kind in NSW. We operate the largest network of qualified snake catchers in the state, which means when you call, the catcher closest to you is dispatched. We attend the Prospect Reservoir grounds regularly for snake and lace monitor relocations, and we are a regular presence on the Wetherill Park commercial sites that sit alongside it. That on-the-ground familiarity with the Prospect landscape — the reserve, the drainage corridors, the way reptiles move out of the bushland into adjoining properties — is the difference between catching the snake and chasing it.
Residents, site managers, WHS officers and reservoir staff call us because we work calmly, respectfully and without panic. We explain what is happening, why the reptile is on the property, and what (if anything) makes that property more likely to see another one.
If you see movement, hear rustling, or notice your pet or staff fixated on one area, call 1300 599 938 immediately.
Why are there so many snakes in Prospect? Prospect Reservoir is a 50,200-megalitre water body surrounded by a large nature reserve of protected bushland. The reserve has functioned as an undisturbed reptile refuge for well over a century. Snakes and lace monitors breed within the reserve and move out into the surrounding suburb every season — Prospect itself, Wetherill Park, Greystanes and Pemulwuy all see snakes that originated within the reserve.
What is the large goanna I keep seeing in Prospect? Almost certainly a lace monitor. They live in significant numbers in the bushland around the reservoir and routinely move into adjoining properties and onto the surrounding business parks. They can grow to over two metres. They are protected native wildlife, not venomous, but they are large and best given a wide berth. Call us if one is on your property and you want it relocated.
Do you attend Prospect Reservoir itself? Yes. We attend the Prospect Reservoir site regularly for reptile relocations across the grounds, the perimeter, the infrastructure and the management buildings. We work with the relevant water authority procedures on site.
Do you attend snake jobs at warehouses and businesses in Wetherill Park? Yes. The Wetherill Park business park is one of our most active commercial snake removal areas. Most of the snakes we catch on those sites were born in the Prospect Reservoir bushland and moved across into the commercial precinct. We work alongside site WHS protocols and provide documentation for incident records.
How quickly can a snake catcher get to Prospect? We operate the largest network of snake catchers in NSW and dispatch the catcher closest to you. Prospect is a high-activity area for us and we have catchers in the corridor regularly. Response times vary with traffic and existing jobs, and we prioritise active sightings.
Sydney Snake Catcher — 1300 599 938 Licensed, insured, and on call 24/7 across Prospect, the Prospect Reservoir precinct and the wider Blacktown LGA.
Nearby Suburbs We Service: Wetherill Park, Greystanes, Pemulwuy, Huntingwood
