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An Aussie snake catcher has issued a warning of a surge in numbers after finding one "extra-large serpent with a body as thick as a beer bottle".

Sean Cade, who runs Australian Snake Catchers, issued the warning after he was called to a property in Sydney to remove a six-foot Eastern Brown Snake, a serpent he says is the subject of more and more call-outs.

In one day Mr Cade received 25 calls about snakes on peoples' property.

"A dozen of them were Eastern Browns, and they were all five-foot plus," Mr Cade told Daily Mail Australia.

Mr Cade also noted the Red Belly Snakes he has found lately have also been a "pretty decent size".

On one recent call out, Mr Cade removed a six-foot Eastern Brown Snake from a property in western Sydney and was pictured restraining the serpent as it lunged for the camera as a colleague took snaps of the beast.

Mr Cade said that Sydney is not necessarily seeing more snakes per se, but much larger snakes.

"Your average black snake that people are going to see is like a metre long, like a ten-cent coin. An Eastern Brown snake is probably the same thickness but 1.2 metres long.

"But I'm finding five footers on a regular basis from an Eastern Brown snake – like a 20 cent coin – so they're quite thick," Mr Cade said.

He added that they're "a lot bigger, a lot healthier," and CSIRO mouse expert Steve Henry thinks that the mouse plague, which was seen throughout central and western New South Wales at the beginning of the year, has contributed to the issue.

Mr Henry told 9news.com.au: "The mice are providing great food for snakes. We will see lots of healthy snakes but not necessarily more of them."

The venom of the Eastern Brown Snake is rated as the second most toxic of all snake venoms in the world, according to Billabongsanctuary.

Just this week, one was removed from a school in Toowoomba, Southern Queensland, just days after another snake catcher, Stuart McKenzie, from Sunshine Coast, also in southern Queensland, said warm weather will draw more eastern browns into family homes and backyards.

McKenzie said calls to his business peaked last week. "Going into October, it is breeding season and we do see more snakes on the move, looking for a mate, and so we do get a lot of snake activity at this time of year," he told 9news.au.

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• Animals

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