TSAF: The Central African Rock Python

From the Animal Friend Archives

Today’s special animal friend is the Central African rock python, Python sebae, a large, nonvenomous, constrictor snake that can eat many of our other African animal friends. This reminds me of a song. “The alligator ate my friend. He will eat your friend, too.” Only it’s a snake. One of ten species in the Python genus, it is the largest snake in Africa. The longest “considered to be authentic” individual was 24’7” long. Before you get too concerned, it is rare for one to be longer than 15 feet, and 10 feet or so is typical. The largest individuals are found in isolated areas.

Females are bigger than males and may weigh over 200 lbs. The rock python’s thick body is marked with irregular blotches in colors that blend into the local ground, such as brown, yellow, and olive. They have a white underside. There is a triangular dark mark under each eye. They have lots of sharp teeth, which hold on to their prey as they squeeze it to death and then swallow it.

They have a varied diet of mammals, birds, and reptiles. In agricultural or suburban areas, they will eat domestic poultry, goats, dogs, and cats, as well as rats and other rodents. In forests, they eat monkeys, bats, and birds. In the savannah, they eat antelope, young crocodiles, and the cubs of wild dogs and cats. One has been observed eating a large, adult hyena.

Rock pythons mate in the spring. The female lays between 20 and 200 eggs; older, larger females have larger clutches. She will lay the eggs in a termite mound, animal burrow, or cave. She will guard the eggs for about 90 days, until they hatch, and defend the babies for another two weeks or so. The hatchlings are 18 to 24 inches long. This is a very unusual level of parental care for a mother snake, although some other python species also guard their eggs.

The Central African rock python is rated Near Threatened by IUCN. They are hunted in some areas because people don’t like snakes, for their skins, and for “bushmeat.” Habitat loss is also a threat, but they are more adaptable than many large animals and can live in disturbed habitats or even in towns, if there is sufficient food. There is some collection for the pet trade and captive breeding. They have been found in the Florida Everglades, along with the Burmese Python.

The rock python is rarely a threat to humans. There are a handful of reports of attacks in Africa over the past 50 years, and some children have been killed by pet snakes in the United States.