Rest after meal: Huge python that swallowed prey, found under car in Australia

In Australia, a huge snake that had recently swallowed a cat or a possum whole was discovered digesting its prey under a car.

On January 24, a carpet python with a massively swollen stomach was discovered at a home in Burpengary, a town in Queensland’s Moreton Bay Region.

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When officers from Brisbane North Snake Catching and Relocation arrived to remove the snake, they took a photograph of it.

The carpet python was photographed resting beneath a car after a recent meal. The python’s stomach appears to be double its normal body size in the photo.

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“Carpet pythons often eat stuff that looks far too big for them, the snake could easily go six months without another feed if needed,” Josh Castle, founder of Brisbane North Snake Catching and Relocation, who attended the call out, told Newsweek.

“[I’m] pretty sure it ate a large possum; I thought it was a cat, but the customer said he has possums nearby, so it could have been either.” [The snake] was probably slightly larger than average, which explains his voracious appetite.”

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Carpet pythons can reach lengths of up to 13 feet, but the average size is around seven feet. They ambush their prey and wait for it to pass by. Carpet pythons kill their prey by constricting and suffocating it before swallowing it whole because they are non-venomous.

These pythons typically feed after dark and eat smaller animals such as rats and birds, but will occasionally prey on larger animals such as cats, dogs, and possums.

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If the prey is too large for a carpet python, it will usually swallow it and spit it out. If the snake does manage to swallow too large a prey item, it will try to regurgitate it or die.

Except for Tasmania, carpet pythons can be found almost anywhere in Australia. They can be found in a variety of habitats, ranging from the wet tropics to the semi-arid desert. Because of the growth of housing developments, they now frequently come into contact with humans and can be drawn to properties by the presence of small pets such as birds and guinea pigs.

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Carpet pythons are commonly found in and around homes in Australia, particularly during the “snake season,” which lasts from October to April.

Another carpet python was recently discovered in a Queensland aged-care facility.

Stuart McKenzie, a snake catcher, arrived to remove the snake that had hidden in the bushes outside the facility. Workers gathered around the snake catcher as he extracted the massive serpent from its hiding place.

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Carpet pythons are secretive creatures with olive to brown skin that blends in well. Because of the cream blotches on its skin, it can hide among the leaf litter in tree hollows, logs, and rocky crevices.