Durban snake rescuer shares insights on southern African pythons after encounter with 25kg female
|Published
Durban snake rescuer Nick Evans recently bumped into a “big, chunky” southern African python at one of his study sites.
The 25kg female, under 3.5m in length, had a large, muscular head.
Evans said her eyes were blue, indicating she was about to shed her skin. She is also due to lay eggs in the summer.
“I have monitored this female python’s movements, behaviour and condition since 2020. This was the first time inspecting her condition in just over a year, so it was good to get her weight and measurements. She’d put on just over 10kg since her last weigh-in!”
Evans said the python might sound enormous, and she is. However, the species can grow to be longer and heavier.
“Although, I’ve never been lucky enough to have personally seen one longer than 4m, or over 30kg,” Evans said.
He said the python tried to escape them rather than attack them. Therefore, it would not be eating people.
Explaining, Evans said: “Pythons are terrified of humans, with no records of them killing a human in many decades in South Africa (when there were more proper giant southern African pythons around - also not sure when the last record was of one actually eating someone, let alone killing).”
He said Anaconda movies have not done pythons any favours, like Jaws for sharks.
“If you see a python, you do not need to worry about it attacking you, as the computerised snake does in the movies,” Evans said.
Evans advised:
- Do not try to kill or capture this snake.
- If it cannot get away, it can deliver a painful defensive bite.
- Not only that, but it is a protected species by law, so killing, capturing, selling or keeping this species is illegal.
WhatsApp your views on this story at 071 485 7995.
Daily News