An amazing feat of wildlife preservation was achieved when Durban snake rescuer Nick Evans and veterinarian Dr Carla Goede rescued a mother python’s clutch of eggs from a development site in late December last year.
Python mother relocated, eggs rescued
Evans said staff members captured the python out of concern for its safety.
He could tell the python was a mother by the pictures he received.
Unlike most snakes, pythons do not lay and leave their eggs.
Evans explained that southern African pythons protect their eggs, only coming out to bask. During this time, their colouration turns extremely dark, allowing her to absorb more heat. She then returns to her den, wraps around them, and incubates them, keeping them at a temperature of around 30°C. Her sole focus is her eggs. She does not eat in the three months or so it takes to incubate the eggs.
He noted that a dark, underweight-looking python is easily identifiable as a mother python.
“The chance of releasing her, and her not returning to her eggs after the traumatic experience, was high, and so we decided, as we’ve done in the past, to remove the eggs, and stick them in an incubator,” Evans said.
She was released in suitable, prey-abundant habitat.
“We went looking for her den, and it didn’t take too long for us to find it. I shone my JETBeam South Africa torch under the foundation of a building, and spotted the clump of eggs, deep inside this space under the foundation,” Evans said.
He said the gap under the foundation was not high enough, so Goede had to crawl in and collect the eggs.
Evans dug her a tunnel and created a space high enough for her to crawl through.
“After dragging herself across the sand, she eventually got to the eggs, and gently picked them up. She reversed extremely slowly and carefully, to avoid causing the eggs any harm. Once she got to the burrow I had dug, it was fairly easy to get out,” Evans said.
Python eggs hatch
Early last month, Evans learned the pythons were hatching after JP Wittstock of Oracle Reptiles successfully incubated the eggs.
The eggs hatched in approximately three to four days.
“The little pythons slice the leathery egg open, from inside, with their egg tooth. A tiny, modified scale, on their snout, which soon falls off,” Evans described.
“They then stick their heads out, and sit like that for hours, breathing oxygen for the first time.
“Eventually, they come out, with a bit of their umbilical cord still attached.”
Evans said they put the pythons in a large container, with hides to lie on or under, on wet paper towel. This helps them absorb whatever is left in the umbilical cord and eventually it dries up and falls off. It required constant changing of the paper towel, because of the blood. Then the pythons are moved onto a dry paper towel.
“Twenty healthy pythons hatched. Not bad at all!” Evans exclaimed.
Python release
Evans said once all pythons were out, they were kept for approximately two weeks until they had all shed.
He explained that in the wild, had the snakes been with their mother, she would have stayed and protected them until they shed. Snakes, especially small ones, are vulnerable when shedding, as their eyes go a cloudy blue, affecting their vision.
“After they shed and before we went to release them (in an undisclosed location), we collected data off of them. We measured, weighed and sexed them. They were between 50-60cm in length,” Evans said.
“Upon release, just about all of them started climbing immediately.”
Evans said juvenile pythons spend most of their time in trees, where, he believes, they feed mostly on small birds.
He also explained it is unlikely all 20 will survive to adulthood. Predators will prey on many.
