Snake Catcher Lane Cove

Lane Cove call-outs can involve apartment common areas and shared gardens as well as houses. Ask residents to avoid the area and provide the building entrance or access instructions.

When calling from Lane Cove, explain whether the animal is indoors or outside, whether it remains visible, and whether children, pets, customers, livestock or workers are nearby. Harley can then assess the immediate risk and the safest access.

Around Lane Cove, Lane Cove River corridor, bushland reserves, apartment gardens, schools, garages and river-adjacent blocks can create several possible routes and shelter points. Leave those places undisturbed after the snake moves out of sight.

Steep gardens, bushland boundaries and layered decks can make following a snake unsafe; remain on stable ground and report its direction instead.

• Lane Cove River corridor: Pause gardening, storage or maintenance work around Lane Cove River corridor after a sighting.
• bushland reserves: Where bushland reserves is shared, ask one person to control access and another to meet Harley.
• apartment gardens: Keep people and pets away from apartment gardens until the sighting has been assessed.
• schools: Identify the safest gate, path or building entrance leading toward schools without approaching the animal.
• garages: Use garages as a landmark when explaining the last known position; do not move closer to inspect it.
• river-adjacent blocks: Tell Harley whether river-adjacent blocks is open, enclosed, elevated or difficult to access from the street.

A sighting does not establish that there is a nest or more than one snake. Avoid assumptions about species, numbers or where the animal has gone; preserve the last reliable observation instead.

• Create several metres of distance without sudden movement or noise.
• Nominate one person to observe while everyone else remains clear.
• Watch from a safe position and remember the last feature or boundary where it was visible.
• Do not use garden tools, brooms or containers in an attempted capture.
• If someone may have been bitten, call Triple Zero (000) immediately and follow the operator’s instructions.

Harley Jones brings more than a decade of reptile-handling experience to Lane Cove call-outs and operates under NSW General Licence MWL000102655.

Equipment and positioning are selected for the actual Lane Cove setting, with safe capture and humane relocation as the objective.

When no snake can be found, Harley will not pretend the site is certain to be clear. He will identify the remaining uncertainty and provide practical next steps. Read about Harley’s training and experience or review the Greater Sydney snake-removal process.