What are Darwin's snakiest places to live and, wherever you live, how do you avoid your home and garden becoming attractive to these slithering reptiles?
After 5,210 snake call-outs across five years, research has revealed that some snake species seem to prefer certain Darwin suburbs.
And heat maps produced in the course of the study showed slaty greys gravitated toward the suburbs of Millner, Jingili, Malak, Karama and Stuart Park, but not the eastern suburbs of Palmerston, Larrakeyah, Nightcliff or Coconut Grove.
Olive pythons seemed to love the newer eastern suburbs of Palmerston and carpet pythons were drawn to Brinkin and the suburb of Tiwi.
Water pythons were most common in Leanyer, as were golden tree snakes, which were also found in Nightcliff.
And children's pythons were mostly found in the industrial areas of Yarrawonga and Pinelands.
Muirhead appeared to have the least amount of snakes.
Biased, but interesting
Research lead Tom Parkin from the Australian Museum, a former snake catcher, said the heat maps had not been published and were unverified.
This was because the data may have been influenced by different snake population densities, and if some persistent individual snakes consistently returned to some suburbs, he said.
So do some snake species favour particular parts of Darwin?
"Why different snakes have different patterns like that is still an unknown," Mr Parkin said.
He said the vegetation and food availability in different suburbs could be an explanation.
"Some snakes probably prefer a lot moister, more rainforested areas, which a lot of people's backyards in some areas like the northern suburbs resemble," Mr Parkin said.
"It's probably got a lot to do with food that the snakes eat, and where there are areas of lots of specific prey that specific snakes prefer."
How to avoid snakes
Mr Parkin says the safest place to live without snakes is a high-rise CBD apartment.
Snakes are commonly found near bushland, water bodies, rodents, caged birds, and attics, but not near homes with dogs or cats, he says.
"If you're away from areas that back onto bushland, and you don't have anything, in particular, that might attract snakes — such as a big rat population or a chicken coop or caged birds — then you're probably less likely to see snakes," Mr Parkin said.
"The vast majority of snakes that people relocate from houses in Darwin are harmless."
The study showed the most common snakes captured were golden tree snakes and carpet pythons — with more than 1,000 records each.
This was followed by children's pythons, water pythons, and slaty-grey snakes.
Most call-outs for golden tree snakes were in May. March and April were when water pythons and children's pythons were mostly found.
Golden tree and slaty-grey call-outs were associated with rainfall, and the time when most human-snake conflicts were reported was the end of the wet season.
'Nothing' to be afraid of
Luke Allen owns a Darwin snake-catching company that visits up to 2,500 properties a year.
He says only about 10 to 15 of these involve dangerous snakes.
"Most people probably have snakes living in and around their houses quite secretly, without even being aware of them," Mr Allen said.
"There are a lot of snakes in Darwin, particularly in the northern suburbs, with the older growth and older buildings."
Mr Allen said urban areas offered environments where snakes could thrive.
"We support them in a lot of different ways without even knowing it," he said.
"Older houses are really breathable, so that leaves holes for snakes to creep into and use as a refuge."
During the study period, there were 104 snakes captured that belonged to the four dangerously venomous species and 381 mildly venomous snakes from six species.
Northern brown snakes were the most commonly encountered dangerous snake species.
King brown snakes and Top End death adders were both very uncommon.
It's a good thing
Curtin University snake researcher Damian Lettoof said the variety of snakes in Darwin reflected a healthy ecosystem.
"When you create an urban ecosystem, you've created a whole bunch of new environments," he said.
"You often remove a bunch of vegetation and food resources, but you also introduce some new ones.
"From a snake's perspective, that's a lot of rodents, house mice, and black rats."
But Dr Lettoof said there were simple ways to keep your home snake free.
"If you can make all your space open and neat and clean, then at least you can be aware of these animals before they're there," he said.
