However rising temperatures also entice our cold-blooded friends to come out of hiding with snakes being reported sun baking around the lake.

It is the beginning of the mating season for snakes, one of the most active periods for the reptiles.

Retired snake catcher Paul Newcombe is expecting to see an increase in baby snakes following on from last year's good season.

Baby snakes usually hatch during the months of February and March.

With last year's plague of mice, Mr Newcombe said most of the snakes are healthy and in prime breeding condition.

He was called out to relocate less snakes during last season, which Mr Newcombe puts down to the increase in mice across the region.

Nr Newcombe is predicting another good season for snakes if mice numbers are still around.

The most common variety of snake around Forbes is the venomous Eastern Brown, which usually eats mice and other small mammals. Other less common varieties found in the region include Tiger Snakes and Black snakes.

The advice when coming across a snake such as an Eastern Brown remains the same as previous years; back away slowly if you are already more than two metres away. However, if you are closer than that the advice to remain still as they react to movement.

Call a snake catcher or the Forbes Shire Council if it lingers or is posing a risk.