Southern California Snake Removal was founded by Jason McElroy in 2003 and is located in Van Nuys, CA.

Southern California Snake Removal provides quality service along with great customer support - a combination that can't be beat!

Most of our clients are located in the surrounding hills, such as Malibu, Calabasas, Woodland Hills, Encino, Sherman Oaks, and Griffith Park areas. We are always interested in going to new areas and would like to expand to Glendale, Sun Valley, Kagel Canyon, Granada Hills, Simi Valley, and Box Canyon.

My Life Story with Snakes

At the age of nine I was introduced to snakes up close. My grandparents had a home in Libby, Montana on a small river named the Kootenai. My cousin and I would trudge through the river catching minnows. One day we found a harmless watersnake and I was terrified. He picked it up, and it bit him on the finger. He screamed and flailed his hands in the air. The poor little snake was now trying to hold on for its life so it wouldn't fly into the trees. Finally the snake let go and flew into the river with hopefully no harm to the snake. Watching my cousin get bit took the fear of snakes right out of me. 

When I came back home to Los Angeles, California, I wanted a snake of my own. At age 10, my mom got me a garter snake. By the time I was 12, I had a 3 foot ball python and a corn snake. By the age of 14, I moved to Van Nuys and located a store named Slither City, which was to become my home away from home. Before I was even 15, I owned 2 Burmese pythons, one being 2 feet and the other being 10 feet. I also owned a California Kingsnake,  Mangrove snake, two water cobras, and a Mexican Redtail Boa. You can say my room was like the snake store. 

When I turned 16, I started working. This allowed me to buy more snakes. So I added a 14 foot yellow-headed Bali Reticulated Python, and an Amethystine python that was meaner then hell to my collection. This was to be as much as I could handle. Feeding was very costly and they were all just pets.

I am now thirty years old and all those snakes are long gone. But without a worry, I have new ones. I am a biology major from Pierce college and have gotten married to my high school honey who is now a UCLA graduate.

Some more of my exotic animal experiance ranges between me working at both the Los Angeles Zoo as a volunteer animal keeper, and also at the wildlife waystation in Sun Valley.

Between both facility’s I have been privileged to work with such animals as birds of prey (Golden Eagles, Bald Eagles, several Owl and Hawk species, Coocoobara, and a few others I cant spell) Big Cats (African Lions, California Mountain Lions, Jaguars, and Tigers).

Working at both of these facilities has been a wonderful experience. However, it was a path going down the wrong road to where I wanted to be. While these warm blooded animals will forever be in my heart. It is the cold blooded ones I am after.

The summer of 2007, I felt confident enough to do some hands on work with our local rattlesnakes. After five years of watching and learning their behavior, I figured it was time to take this business to the next level. Venom Extraction!

Timing couldn’t be more perfect. I had a film crew with me doing what hopefully will become a new show on my business and life. We were out in a secret location in Lancaster (on foot), and found what appeared to be an integrate of our two local rattlesnakes species the Mojave Green and the Southern Pacific. This snake was very nasty and just wanted us to leave it alone. After playing all the dos and don’ts in my head to both keep my life and fingers and also not hurt the snake, I pinned and grabbed the snake. I was able to collect a strike venom sample, and release the snake unharmed.

Talking with other venom collectors in the field, this is the best way to get the venom sample. By collecting venom through a strike, I am not depleting the venom glands and risking further injury to the snake. 

I now breed and sell snakes as well as remove unwanted snakes from private property. I don't believe in caging or breeding the snakes I remove. My breeding stock are all 100 percent captive bred. The snakes we remove from your property are all released and not harmed (even the venomous). The reason this business was started was to put an end to the unnecessary killing of a predator that is well needed in our hills. You just don't need these reptiles in your house or on your property.

Most companies you call to remove your unwanted snakes are going to kill them. In California it is illegal to detain a reptile and release it in another area without prior consent from the Department of Fish and Game. There is no law against killing the rattlesnakes in your area. There is a law forbidding you to kill the California Kingsnake which is black or brown and white striped. You kill one of these and you could get into major trouble (you want these on your property because they love to eat rattlesnakes and they are non-venomous and usually non-aggressive).

I also started the business as a way to gain more intense hands-on experience with venomous reptiles. My plan for the future is to start venom extraction to sell to the laboratories for the production of anti-venom, and continue the amazing growth of venom research. Some current projects that are going on are Scorpion venom as a cancer fighter, and Gila monster venom with Diabetes. These projects have been linked to this site.  

Through our commitment, experience, and expertise, Southern California Snake Removal has established a business relationship with our customers that will last a lifetime!

Call Southern California Snake Removal at (818) 785-9321 today!