One hundred and two venomous snakes were removed from the backyard of a home in Sydney, Australia, where several adult redbellies seemingly gave birth to 97 newborns, an animal rescue service said.
“101 Dalmatians? How about 102 redbellies!” wrote Reptile Relocation Sydney, the group that dealt with the heap of reptiles, in a post on Facebook.
The post included video of the snakes piled atop one another in a slithering, Medusa-like bunch.
Reptile Relocation Sydney said homeowners in the Sydney suburb Horsley Park contacted them after spotting red-bellied black snakes emerging from, and disappearing back into, a patch of mulch in their backyard over a period of about two weeks. Although the creatures are venomous, their bites are rarely deadly for humans, and the typically shy snakes don’t usually bite unless they feel threatened, according to the University of the Sunshine Coast, which also notes Australia hasn’t confirmed any deaths of people because of these snake bites.
Seen across eastern parts of the country, redbelly snakes are most active out in the open during their breeding season throughout the spring, the Australian Museum writes. It can be common for females to congregate at the same site to give birth around this time of year, which appeared to be the case for the Horsley Park home.
Reptile Relocation Sydney expected to remove four redbelly snakes from the mulch, but, within minutes of starting the job, “we knew this was going to be unusual,” they said.
“Snake after snake, they just kept being uncovered,” said Reptile Relocation Sydney. “Long story short, we went for four adults and came out with 102 snakes in total—97 newborn redbellies and five adults.”