Police raided a home in the Blue Mountains and came away with nearly 100 marijuana plants, packages of the drug for sale, and some rather expensive snakes.
Police raided a Warragamba home about 4pm on Tuesday, following an investigation into drug supply.
Its owner is facing five charges related to the supply and cultivation of marijuana after police allegedly discovered a hydroponic lab and 91 marijuana plants.
Four snakes were also seized by the state's Parks and Wildlife Service.
It is legal to keep some varieties of native reptile in NSW but only with a licence.
The alleged drug dealer's preference appears to have been for an albino carpet python, a genetic mutation of the tree-dwelling species native to Australia's north, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.
Prime albino carpet pythons can command sale prices of up to $4000 on reptile trading websites. Lesser varieties go for about $500 a snake.
Herpetoculturists prize snakes with strongly contrasting white patterns and generally feed them frozen rats once every seven to 10 days.
Two other snakes seized were Woma pythons, a species native to Australia's centre that trade for about $200-500 online.
It is not the first time reptiles have strayed into the criminal world.
"It does attract the outlaw biker mentality," Associate Professor Brian Fry from Queensland University said, of another seizure of non-native snakes.
Bans on owning some species in Australia have created a significant black-market premium, Associate Professor Fry said.
Herpetoculturists' lore says that breeding albino carpet pythons became possible about 20 years ago, with the discovery of "Blondie", a large female of the species, in a Darwin caravan park.
The snakes' owner was refused bail. He will appear in Penrith Local Court on Wednesday.
Police say they are continuing investigations.
