African Rock Python

Date: 13/03/2011

Location: Same position as previous night. After considerable disturbance by my wife’s shaky lightning procedures the snake abandoned the ambush position and disappeared in to the dark river. Later that night the dogs woke me and lo and behold, there was our new house creature. The only problem with our new acquaintance is that it will bite anything that moves. The python’s bite is well-directed and what follows is certain death to any mediums size animal caught up in its steel like coils.

 

The greatest asset to the python is the ability to hunt unseen in an environment where all the odds are stacked against its intending prey.  The above photo clearly shows how well camouflage the African Rock Python can be in or near water.

 They favor the “ambush” hunting tactic and use their cryptic coloration to disappear from sight while waiting to strike prey coming down to drink. With their acute sense of smell the python will choose the exact spot where animals were drinking water through the sent left behind by their saliva.

  The snake outside my door is visiting the drinking spot on regular intervals and a real threat is formulating in my mind. My pets are being stalked by a killing machine, with no remorse or regret in swallowing cuddly fur balls for breakfast. I could try to catch the python, but I have to admit that this snake is too big for me. My previous catch and release experiences with pythons give me ample respect for these reptiles and to know where one is a lesser creature can be the decisive factor between life and death. A large agitated rock python in its watery domain is a serious life threatening situation and I decided to act accordingly to my previous observations.

The patience of pythons lying ambush in the well hidden spots near rivers is legendary and one should not be fooled by their immobile state. Close inspection will show that the python is poised and ready to strike at any expected or unexpected prey. Expected prey, because with their highly evolved sense of smell they can detect the exact spot where animals came down to drink through the saliva left behind when the animals drink. The python can detect differences in temperature up to 2 meters away with heat sensitive pits located on the upper lips. This gives the python the ability to see a mammal’s heat profile even in the darkest of night. The python will strike the prey animal by the head or upper body with a gaping mouth filled with 250 razor-sharp fangs. These fangs will lash onto the prey and with powerful backward motions the snake will pull its prey into the water, all the while wrapping its coils around the doomed creature. Constricting the animal will begin and 3 to 4 minutes later the animal will be dead. The coils will contract every time the prey exhale, thus stopping oxygen from reaching the brain and other vital organs, ending in cardiac arrest.

African Rock Python

Date: 10/03/2011

Location: 1 meter from where the dog was killed, 04/03/2011.

Observations: I took a photo with an 18-55 mm Canon lens from 3 meters away. The snake is huge and my estimation stands on close to 4 meters, maybe 4.5 meters.

 

Snake will occupy same position till dawn, at daybreak it is gone last heading is towards opposite side of the river.

Snake Observation and data collecting.

This is my journal on the snake’s movement and behavior for the past two weeks and updates will be added after confirmed encounters.

 

Date: 04/03/2011

Location: Mogol River, Waterberg region, Limpopo Province

Observations: Mickey the dog was killed by a 4 meter African Rock Python. The carcass was retrieved by the snake, but consumption can’t be confirmed. Dog died from suffocation by constricting and puncture wounds was noticed around the facial area.  

We know you are there, you seem not to care…

Living a humble life in the mist of the African bush can have its down side. My house is besieged by a 3 meter African Rock Python and for the first time in my life I am contemplating a horrible act. The chill draft floating around my house was not caused by the sudden arrival of autumn, but rather the chill reminder of the viciousness of Python sebae, the top predator lying outside my front door. The urge to destroy was boiling through my veins when I found the neighbor’s dog crushed to death in our small but beautiful back yard.

 

 His name was Mickey and his love for running up and down the Mogol River was his down fall. The predator that was lurking in the water only had to wait, once in its range the out-come will almost always favor the reptile. Warning bells sounded in my head when I realized the snake came back for his prize, behavior that I had not seen in my previous encounter with Africa’s biggest snake. Even more worry some is that the snake is keeping to its nightly ambush in the river outside our house. Even after taking multiple flash photography shots at the snake it clearly ignored my presence, or should I say decided that my girth was too great for its gaping mouth.

 

The African Rock Python is widely regarded by snake experts to be very aggressive towards anything that comes to close and if cornered should be treated with outmost care. This snake is literally armed to the teeth with some mind boggling adaptations to kill and to defend its self. Cryptic coloration with highly evolved senses makes the Rock python an effective killer; most victims stand no chance of surviving the lighting attack launched by this super snake. Specimens of 7 meters have been recorded and I have wrestled with a four meter female, something not to do on your own. The power of these snakes is remarkable and in its water domain the snake occupied the top spot in the food chain. Join me in a grim glimpse in the life of an African Rock Python and let’s see if it can be possible to live in peace with a predator that is built for the kill.