In the last three weeks he has rescued more than 15 snakes who found their way into homes or businesses in the Manning Valley.

The calls for help often don't come during business hours but he says he will always respond. Brenton expects the calls to keep coming until the end of autumn and is keen to educate the community about how to reduce the likelihood of snakes making your house their home.

Last week more than 20 people gathered at Brenton's business, Reptile Dysfunction in Taree to learn how to make their homes less appealing to snakes and how best to respond if bitten.

"The place was absolutely chockers. It was great to see," Brenton said. "I thought it was important that we get this information out."

Brenton spoke about the different venomous snakes that live in our area, what they look like, what they do and what they look for when choosing a place to call home.

"The red belly black snake is the most common. I'd say 80 to 90 per cent of the snakes we see are red belly blacks," Brenton said.

"We recently got one from Jobfind opposite Bass 'n' Blues and in the carpark at Medisense. They are around."

Brenton says it is not hard to make your property less appealing to snakes.

"Remove rubbish and wood piles as well as roofing iron and similar items. They are perfect hiding places for snakes and lizards, as a lot of venomous snakes eat other snakes and lizards," Brenton explained. "Rubbish also attracts rodents and that is another food item for snakes."

"Keep your lawns short. Snakes don't live in long grass but will sometimes hide in it and you may step on them and that is when they will bite.

"Snakes will use a house as a haven to avoid the heat in the middle of the day. Try not to store things under the house as they may use stored items as shelter. It makes them very hard to find or remove.

"Trim the trees near your house. If they touch your house they allow rodents to access your roof which in turn will attract pythons to the roof. Pythons are harmless but if you don't like snakes being around at all I suggest you keep this in mind."

Brenton says it is important to be snake-aware when working around your garden or bushwalking. "Always wear good shoes, long loose fitting pants and if you're doing gardening or rubbish removal always wear good quality gloves. This reduces the chance of a snake being able to bite through the clothing," he explained.

"If you happen to come across a snake while walking, just stop! If you do not move you are not a threat. Standing still makes you almost invisible to a snake as its eyesight is fairly poor and relies predominately on movement.

"Killing or harming snakes is just like killing or harming any Australian native animal or even a dog, it's a crime and can be punishable with hefty fines and or jail time.

"Snakes only bite out of defence, not aggression. Snakes don't have a voice or hands to tell us or animals to go away and so they must bite to defend themselves against predators and threats and this is when people and animals are injured.

"About 90 per cent of snake bites occur when an inexperienced person tries to handle, catch or kill a snake."