32 slithery baby residents welcomed to Marloth Park
5 hours ago
Stefan de Villiers
MARLOTH PARK – A snake handler unexpectedly became the parent of 32 snake hatchlings after he had rescued their mother from being poisoned in residents’ drains.
After a struggle to rescue her in September, Juan de Beer had nursed the pregnant Southern African python back to health until she laid her eggs in November. De Beer, a qualified snake handler in Marloth Park, received a call from residents on September 3, reporting a large python stuck in their French drain.
“It took around two months to finally rescue her from the drain,” he said. “At first, the residents didn’t know what to do, so they poured poison into the drain.”
Upon inspection, De Beer noticed that the three-and-a-half-metre female python was in the company of two male pythons. The two males were microchipped for further study and released immediately.
De Beer took in the female after noticing her condition. “We didn’t know she was pregnant. Only after examining her for a study, I realised there were eggs on the way, so I kept her for further observation.”
After months of caring for the pregnant mother-to-be, the python laid her eggs on November 13. There were between 35 and 40 eggs, of which 32 hatched.
The eggs started hatching on January 30 and the last snakelet hatched on February 3.
“Southern African pythons are one of the few snakes who have to incubate their own eggs,” De Beer said. “The mother goes out into the sun to increase her body heat, then she wraps herself around the eggs to transfer the heat to them and repeats the process, until the eggs hatch.”
Once all of the eggs were hatched, De Beer released the female python into a protected area. He kept the babies until they were stable enough to be released.
Six months after rescuing and caring for the 3,5-metre snake, De Beer released the snakelets in Marloth Park on March 2.
De Beer studies snakes in Marloth Park as part of a three-to-five-year project, and has a facility in which he keeps them.
“I microchip nine species of snake in the park in order to monitor their habits and movements,” he said. “I note the date and time of capture, the animal’s length, body temperature, weight, sex and location. After the initial date capture, we release them about one kilometre away and recapture them after some time, so track their direction and movement.”
De Beer chipped the mother and released her, but has not recaptured her yet. He wanted to microchip the babies as well, to monitor their growth and movements, “but they were still way too small”.
Residents in Marloth Park are urged not to poison any species of snake, especially Southern African pythons, which is a protected specie in South Africa, but to rather contact De Beer on 060-665-5000.
https://lowvelder.co.za/723567/32-slith ... loth-park/
They must know that there are experts that you can all 
