We are a family run business that is dedicated and extremely passionate about Australia’s wildlife and the conservation of the environment. In our view the environment is the MOST important issue today as it is the very thing that keeps us alive and lets us continue with all the amazing advances the human race has done. We hope to introduce people to some amazing and beautiful creatures with unique personalities and by doing so hope to get people interested in animals that are not furry or (in some peoples eyes) cute and cuddly. By raising awareness of our wildlife and there plea we raise awareness of the destruction we cause to our one home. We have chosen to stay a small family business and even though we could expand to become very large very quickly we feel that larger corporations with many staff members and huge amounts of animals become very impersonal to the customer. As parents and customers ourselves we understand how important presentation, friendliness, professionalism, patience and punctuality are. We guarantee that you will always speak directly to one of the directors of black snake productions when you call, not a receptionist. We also believe that local community is very important so we very often do discounted or free shows in our local area as well as volunteering in local groups.

Our dedication to the next generation of reptile and wildlife enthusiasts is a strong point of black snake productions often helping younger people set up the first reptile enclosure as well as being the only wildlife displayer to be on the Victorian Herpetological Society committee, that’s why you will always see a VHS donation tin at our public events. We wish all our competitors the best with there businesses and glad they are also making a difference to the environment through demonstrations as long as it’s done ethically and morally.

A normal day in summer for me consists of at least 4-10 phone calls with the people on the other end of the line upset that there is a snake in there yard and want me to come and remove it ASAP. I often wonder if snakes are thinking the same thing, that there is a massive extremely dangerous and very scary creature known as a human in there home.

Snakes are part of life in Melbourne and they are probably going to become more common around homes as the drought in Australia worsens. Warrandyte, Eltham, Diamond creek, Heidleberg and the Yarra Valley is probably our busiest area’s and as I do more and more snake removals I am unfortunately finding more and more cases of cruelty to animals. One of the jobs that I have undertaken (3rd, 12, 2007) was in Hamilton road north Warrandyte, the customer that called me for the job was in no way responsible for what I found but unfortunately one of his neighbors or a local to that area was. I arrived at the home at around 10 am and to my surprise found what I thought to be a tiger snake with a color mutation, but my surprise turned to disgust as I realized that the color mutation was actually paint stripper that had eaten away the scales of the snake and was causing it not pain but utter agony. I tried in vain twice every day to soak the snake to remove the paint striper and do everything possible to care for it, but unfortunately on the (9th, 12, 2007) it died. This last season we removed up to 8 snakes that have been trapped in fruit tree netting, 5 of those had to be put down, we have been to a number of jobs with people running around with shovels wanting to kill these native animals and at least 2 jobs where people have either on purpose or by accident killed blue tongue lizards. Every year only a couple of people die from snake bite, thousands of snakes are killed by dangerous people and the number one reason for snake bite is people trying to kill them.

Basically the point I am trying to make in this article is that too many people still think its ok to kill or torture reptiles because they think that they are dangerous or are just plain scared of them. ALL native animals are protected by law, at no time is it ok or justified to kill snakes or lizards, snakes are venomous but they DO NOT chase people to bite them, THEY DO NOT attack or bite for any other reason than self protection and they are not evil. I have dedicated my life to these very misunderstood, beautiful and inoffensive creatures and if you do have a snake in your house or yard then please call us or another snake catcher to remove the animal safely and if you cannot afford that then leave it alone and it will move off. A snake is just as protected as koalas or kangaroos; they are more important to the ecosystem and are always going to be a part of our amazing and beautiful country. Please look after them because without them Australia would not be the amazing place it is.

If you do need a snake or other reptile removed at any hour please call us at Black Snake Reptile relocation on 0432143228 or 59619183.
Michael Alexander