Rutherford's Aaron Cove residents say they are are living in fear that they will come face-to-face with a snake when they step outside

They are seeing too many eastern brown and red-bellied black snakes in their yard and it's got to the point where they are forced to be extremely vigilant every time they step outside.

They say the snakes are living at the Anambah landfill site - an overgrown block of vacant council land - and are frequently slithering into Aaron Cove.

Chris Hopley and his partner moved to the cul-de-sac three months ago and in that time they have had five snakes in their front and back yards.

"We've had juveniles, but in the rest of the street they've all been fully grown black and brown snakes," he said.

For the rest of the neighbours who have been living on Aaron Cove for a longer period, the issue has been going on for years.

Not only has the common occurrence of the snakes created fear for the neighbourhood, but tragedy for one family who lost their dog to a snake bite.

Mr Hopley, who loves gardening, said he's afraid to go outside most of the time.

"I understand that it's a rural area and that you're going to get snakes that's reasonable every now and again but the frequency that we've seen them it's like you're watching every single step when you're on the grass or in the garden," he said.

Mr Hopley said he has reached out to Maitland City Council a number of times but has been told council is only required to mow the perimeter.

A Maitland City Council spokesperson told the Mercury that the site includes wet areas.

"Due to the nature of the land and debris on site, mowing is restricted to the current 20 metre buffer," the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson also said that council does not remove snakes from areas of natural habitat on public land.

"Sightings will start to reduce, with snake season ending with the start of the cooler weather," they said.

Mr Hopley said council comes every three months to mow the perimeter and has attempted to mow the entire block of land before, but failed.

"They have tried with tractors and ride on mowers and apparently they got bogged and there was never any follow-up actions," he said.

"I appreciate the tractor and stuff but don't stop there."

Fellow Aaron Cove resident Nicole Prioste has been living in the neighbourhood with her young family for four years.

Mrs Prioste said when they first brought the property there was a development application with council for Signature Gardens Retirement Resort to build on the lot.

"We saw the plans and as far as I know it was approved," she said.

"We knew that Signature Gardens wanted it and wanted to build more of the retirement village but also a hospice."

"There was also meant to be a little mini park at the end of it that they were giving back to the community."

After a couple of years, Mrs Prioste said they contacted council to see what was going on.

"We also contacted Signature Gardens, and that's when they told us there was problems with being able to build on it," she said.

Mrs Prioste said the overgrown land and snake issue has been going on for years - with residents often coming across snakes in their front and back yards and under their bins.

"We're talking about hundreds of snakes over summer between all of the houses," she said.

"We live in a cul-de-sac so our kids play outside, as do a number of other neighbourhood kids and there would be red-bellied black snakes in the gutter."

Mrs Prioste said they understand that there is a problem to build on the land but it's starting to feel like it has been left and nothing is being done about the situation.

"We're not expecting council to work miracles, but we are expecting them to do something about it, rather than just letting it grow," she said.

Community members can fill out a petition to help protect the Rutherford neighbourhood. Click here to view the petition.

In other news: