Durban — A snake handler and a farmer both bagged a python on a farm near the King Shaka International Airport recently.
Snake handler Jason Arnold said that one afternoon he was called out to an urgent rescue for a big python on a farm in the Mount Moreland area.
Looking at his surroundings while on his way to the rescue, Arnold said that there were a lot of snakes in the area because it is completely surrounded by sugar cane and lots of natural bushes. There is also a river that runs down nearby. He said there was a lot of snake activity in the area.
Before reaching his destination, he explained what he was going to try and do but people might think he is crazy.
“... I don’t like to restrain pythons by the head because then they tend to want to wrap around you and they want to poo on you. And to be absolutely honest, as much as a bite is painful, that's not a nice experience,” Arnold said.
“I’d rather take a bite than be pooed all over because if you've ever smelt what comes out of the back end of a python, a wild python that is, I do not want to have to travel in my car with that smell. So I would honestly rather just get bitten if it turns out to be a really bitey snake.
“Then obviously I will restrain the head and I’ll get it into a bag. I don’t want to be bitten multiple times, but I don't mind being bitten once or twice if that's what it takes to not get pooed on,” Arnold said.
When Arnold arrived at the farm, the python was in a shrub looking down on the ground.
He said he wondered what the python was looking to ambush.
To which the farm owner, Rob West, replied, he has sheep.
West also said that he tried to grab the python by the tail but it climbed into the shrub.
Arnold made his way to the python and tried sussing out its temperament. It was not hissing.
“I’m just trying to show it that I am not an enemy to it,” Arnold said while holding its head.
“If I give it half the chance it’s going to take a strike at my face.
Arnold said he wanted the snake to move on its own, through the bush.
Within seconds, the python started slithering out of the shrub and a fast-acting Arnold rushed to grab it.
He said he was not restraining the python because he did not want it to defecate on him.
“Getting pooed on is worse than getting bitten,” Arnold said.
He said that the python’s tail coiling up like a spring and then it starts pooing.
“The strength is unbelievable,” Arnold said while carrying and guiding the python to the cover he would put it in.
“I’m out of breath already.”
He said the python did not want to bite.
Arnold said pythons were more inclined to have a bite when they are on the ground.
It was at that point that the python tried to bite Arnold in the back but was hindered by his T-shirt.
“I’m so out of breath,” Arnold said while bagging the python.
“I didn’t get pooed on, the snake didn’t get a proper bite on me…”
On a different day, Arnold said that the day had arrived to release the female python.
“What you guys don’t know is that the very next day after catching her the farmer phoned me again and said I've got another one. So I went through there and actually got a male python. There’s no video of that one because the farmer actually caught it himself and put it into a bag. So I just had to go and collect the snake,” Arnold said.
He went to a remote spot with a dam, and lots of natural bush and the snakes will have plenty of food.
He also said that the pythons would be released together where they can resettle and make a new life.
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