14
Well, the snake was still draped across two patio chairs this morning and was looking even more settled than before. Having read that the Diamond Pythons are often tree-dwellers that lie in wait for prey to pass, I was a little concerned to see the snake with its tail wrapped securely around the chair arm and it’s head coiled up read to strike anything that scurried beneath the chair.
The patio chairs are favourite relaxation spots for our cats. I wonder if the snake could smell the cats and was ready to ambush them! Little did he know that the cats were safely in the house.
Anyway, I decided that it was time to “encourage” the snake to move on. Having donned thick gloves and being armed with two brooms, I started wrangling the snake! It wasn’t too pleased and struck the brooms a couple of times, but then it was being taunted!
After it climbed up the fence and looked as if it was going onto the roof, I was almost tempted to grab its tail and pull it back! It was a very strong snake - not easy to get into the box that I had ready. Eventually, it wrapped itself around one broom and I was able to carry it into the open where Debs moved the box and stood ready with the lid.
Once in the box, it was a different matter of getting the snake off the broom! Constrictors are not the easiest thing to get off a broom handle, but it eventually unwrapped itself and hey presto, one snake in a box! Debs fearlessly moved in (despite being six months pregnant) and closed the lid on the box to secure the monster.
I was a bit unsure of the length when posting the images yesterday and I thought that it was a little under two metres. When it uncurled along the fence, it was obviously a lot bigger than it looked on the chair. I’d say it was definitely over 2m - probably about 220cm.
We were too excited during the wrangling to record the action, but we did record the release. We took it to the end of the street where the National Park track starts and released it a short way up the track. Here’s the video:
