Huge pregnant python, stung by bees, rescued in South Africa [Photos]

Yesterday afternoon, at around 14:30, I received a call from Zimbali Eco-Estate (Ballito) about a large python living under someone’s patio. For the past few days, she had been basking on the patio, and then retreating underneath it.

To me, this would be a dream come true for my garden. I’d sit and watch it everyday! But, this isn’t something many people would like. There were guests renting out the house for the holidays. They were rather anxious, and I believe the homeowner wasn’t too chuffed either. So, it had to go.

Sad, I know. This snake wouldn’t bother anyone.

But that’s how it is.

We suspected she may be guarding her eggs. Females come up to bask while protecting their eggs, get nice and hot, then go back down the burrow, wrap around the eggs, and incubate them. She was displaying this sort of behaviour. Should she be on eggs, that would make it a whole lot more difficult!

I had an experience like that back in January this year, also in Zimbali.

Soon after we arrived, accompanied by my friend Nick Saunders (another snake-rescuer called Nick), we discovered that underneath the 6-7m long stair of the patio, was a tunnel. An open space, where you could see a large snake had been living. We dug a bit, and I stuck my phone while recording a video. I checked the footage. No sign of it. So we went and dug on the other side of the step. That’s when I could just see a bit of it in the video. It was about half-way in the step. So we started digging there!

We dug and dug. It was a tricky situation. We had to dig down, but then under the step, was Earth, and basically a ledge on top of that. So we had to go down and up again.

There were Iris’s planted along the step. There were. They’re no longer present! They can be re-planted thankfully 🙂

Eventually, we dug a big enough hole where we could almost crawl in, and get a good look at her. I was in the hole, on my back, trying to see what soil I could move away. Suddenly, something stung me on my leg. I seemed to recall uttering a bad word. Then I looked down towards my leg, and saw bees! I pulled myself up, as Nick and Joelle seemed to be moving away at the site of the stinging insects. I started running, but within seconds, I received multiple stings. I was getting stung on my head, between my eyes, on my ear, neck, arms, legs- everywhere! Apparently, once bees sting someone, it gives off a pheromone that other bees go for. So I got chased! I ran out the driveway, and about 300 meters down the road- they were persistent!

Multiple cars drove past me, covered in sand, bending over holding my throbbing head. Not one stopped to ask if I was okay! Sheesh, I would have been out my car to check on the person if it was me driving past. I suppose I looked a bit mad.

Joelle and Nick came to find me. Nick had also got stung multiple times. He ran towards the house and got cornered outside, and had to run back through the swarming bees. He too received a good few stings. Pulling stings out of us kept Joelle busy.
A bee remover, Johan Bodenstein was called. He came up from Durban. While we waited for him, Nick and I walked to the fancy clubhouse, to get a cold drink. We got some peculiar stares.

Johan arrived, and made short work of the bees. They were in a drain a few meters from our little construction site. There were thousands! He blew some smoke to settle them down, and swiftly vacuumed them up into a box. I was given half a bee suit to help (just passing him things and shining a torch). Yes, my legs were not protected, but the bees focused on him.

Bees gone, time for us to focus on the python again!

Instead of going back home, Johan offered to help in shining the torch for us, and digging! Very grateful to him.

By now it was dark, and we wanted to get this done and go home. But the python had other ideas. She squished herself in her tunnel so tightly, she wasn’t coming easily.

We were quite relieved to find she wasn’t on eggs because getting them out safely with her guarding them would have been near impossible.

We chased her to one side of the step. From a second burrow we had dug, we could reach her with a stick. So we tried poking her with a stick, hoping she’d go towards the other burrow, a few meters down. It took a lot of effort, but she eventually did. Her head appeared, in front of me. Her head was huge! But she saw me, and reversed back into the middle. Back to square one!

I should add that bucket-loads of sand had been falling down on my face/head throughout this process. It wasn’t comfortable!

Also, we had a very entertaining crowd in the form of the guys renting the house. The more they drank, the more entertaining they became. But really nice people, who were most grateful.

Eventually, after some chasing around, we got her into a corner. She was up on the ledge. We had dug a heck a lot, and I could now nearly reach out and grab her. But, I couldn’t just grab her. She was looking at us head-on. If we reached out towards us, she’d strike out. Goodness me, a bite from a snake of this size would hurt! No venom, thankfully, but rows of sharp, hook-like, teeth, armed with power behind the strike. It would cause horrendous damage on one’s hand.

I was trying to pull her head closer to me with tongs, but you can imagine how well that worked. I’ve never used tongs on a python because I know it’s useless. I was reminded of this, but I was desperate. Then, tired of being prodded, she came in my direction quickly! I tried grabbing her while reversing out at the same time, hoping to avoid a bite to the face! She then got across our excavation and went along her burrow. The three of us grabbed her tail, but we were absolutely no match for her. She was immensely powerful.

I moved along to the other excavation and grabbed her head there. But again, she was too strong. While pulling back, I had to release her head to avoid injuring her.

I was in one of our excavations trying to grab the head, while Nick was in the other, trying to coax her out more towards me. But then, she reversed back towards the neck, and he grabbed a coil. He shouted for help, and I rushed over. Nick, Johan, a passerby (who was out looking for owls with his family) and I were all pulling. We didn’t want to pull too hard, in case of injuring her. But we had to be firm, otherwise, this would never end. Eventually, she broke free, almost landing on Nick who was in the excavation. He jumped back to allow me to grab the head. It was over!

We had caught her at around 21:30, ending a six-hour operation. SIX HOURS!!

Everyone was overjoyed, yet just left in awe at the enormous size of her! She was a giant! Massive!

To top off our experience, Nick’s car wouldn’t start, and we had to wait for security to come and jumpstart us. Then, we had to go find dinner.
We got home at 01:30. Shattered, sore (Nick dislocated a finger by the looks of things), and just exhausted. But happy!

This morning I took her to Dangerous Creatures at Ushaka, to collect data. She measured out at 4.060m (4m 6cm), and weighed a whopping 33.1kg. The veterinary team did an ultrasound on her, and yes, she is pregnant! Absolutely full of eggs!

She looks like she’s about to pop. I consulted with Professor Graham Alexander, the authority on this species, and we agreed it would be best to house her until she lays. Otherwise she could struggle to find another den site.

She, and her babies, will be released. “Where?”, is what you’ll all be wondering. That’s a secret 🙂

I have never worked so hard to rescue a snake, but man was it so worth it!