A New South Wales snake catcher warns he's seeing an increase in fat, venomous reptiles at the start of snake season.

Sean Cade, owner of Australian Snake Catchers, removed an "extra-large" six foot eastern brown snake from a western Sydney home at the beginning of October.

Its body was as thick as a beer bottle.

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Since then Mr Cade estimated he's removed more than a dozen five foot eastern brown snakes. Red-bellies are "probably double that".

"We're definitely seeing bigger ones coming out," Mr Cade told 9news.com.au, explaining there's not necessarily more snakes – just healthier ones.

"They're bigger than average. A couple days after the brown snake, we had a big black snake at Dural.

"For some reason they're a lot bigger and a lot healthier."

Snake season normally starts around mid September and runs to March.

'The mice are providing great food for snakes'

CSIRO mouse expert Steve Henry told 9news.com.au that the mouse plague which gripped central and western NSW at the start of the year is contributing to the healthy snakes being reported.

"The mice are providing great food for snakes," Mr Henry said.

"(But) while there are plenty of mice, there are also plenty of frogs due to the wet weather.

"We will see lots of health snakes but not necessary more of them.

"We're not going to see a plague of snakes."

Mr Henry said it's too early to predict whether farmers will see a second wave of the mouse plague.

Winter and wet weather have slowed the rate of breeding.

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"We're seeing patchy reports of high mice numbers, but farmers are also being very pro-active with baiting, which is helping to reduce numbers in some areas," Mr Henry said.

"We're not 100 per cent sure there will be a second wave until we get boots on the ground."

"But so far, people aren't being overrun with mice."

The mouse plague is estimated to have caused more than $1 billion in damage to crops.

Contact Raffaella at rc*********@******om.au.

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Ocean researchers on an expedition to examine a shipwreck in the Red Sea have shared footage of the surprising moment an enormous squid also swam in to get a closer look.

The OceanXplorer research vessel was drifting about 850 metres below the ocean's surface so crew could get a look at the wreck of the passenger ship Pella late last year.

At the time, the awed researchers were not sure what type of squid happened to swim past its remote-vehicle camera, although they suspected it might be a "giant" squid.

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OceanX science program lead Mattie Rodrigue originally estimated was larger than a human being.

"I was frozen in absolute shock," she said.

Now, zoologist and squid expert Mike Vecchione has provided the team with answers.

The creature was not a giant squid, but rather a jumbo version of a purpleback flying squid – or the stenouteuthis oualaniensis, for the scientists playing at home.

Dr Vecchione said they represent "the giant form" of the purpleback flying squid.

The purpleback flying squid is typically much smaller than a giant squid, reaching on average 35 centimetres, according to the Australian Museum.

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Police divers will resume the search for a missing schoolboy last seen near Walpole in Western Australia this morning.

The land search for the boy was called off yesterday afternoon, but divers will continue to scour the river for a fourth day.

It was originally presumed the boy had gone missing while kayaking, but police revealed yesterday that nobody had actually seen the boy enter the water.

Police have confirmed clothing belonging to the child was found near the river at Fernhook Falls shortly after he disappeared, but nothing has been discovered since.

Divers have also faced challenging conditions underwater, with visibility extremely limited.

It was hoped conditions would improve today, with water levels decreasing.

However, police have said the chances of finding the boy alive are dwindling.

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Inspector Glenn Spencer said yesterday there were "lots of obstructions" in the way for police divers.

"The water is very high flowing and there's lots of obstructions … very turbulent water, very tumultuous ground," he said.

"Lots of rocks, lots of logs, and very low visibility of 30 centimetres, so it is hands and knees searching."

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SES volunteers have returned to help, but the land search was called off this afternoon.

"The search on the land was based on if the boy had self rescued," Inspector Spencer said.

"SES have searched 600 metres either side of the bank and about a kilometre downstream, and they've maximised every opportunity we've had to locate the boy on land."

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The boy's family, originally from Denmark, is struggling to come to terms with the situation.

"The family are in the grieving process," Inspector Spencer said.

"They are obviously in shock and as the days go on their anxiety levels are of course quite high," Superintendent Kim Travers said.

With a break in the bad weather police were able to deploy drones first thing this morning, scouring the river banks for the young boy.

The schoolboy was last seen at his family's campsite in Fernhook Falls around 9am on Sunday.

It's believed he had been kayaking moments before he disappeared, but police today said no one saw him going into the water.

It is not known whether the boy could swim.