This carpet python in Australia is very well camouflaged. His head is just to the right of the farthest fern on the left. From there, if you follow his curves along to the end of his long body, you will notice that he gets fatter  and fatter. I shudder to think what little animal has been swallowed whole.

Carpet Python, photo by Leslie

Imagine walking down the steps to the back yard to put something into the compost and then, on your return, noticing that you must have walked right over a python of over six feet in length.

Luckily, these pythons are not venomous. They eat small animals like mice and rats, birds, and lizards. They can open their jaws wider than we might think, judging by the size of the head, but after an initial bite, they wrap their body around the animal to constrict its blood flow, and once the animal is unconscious, it is usually swallowed whole.

I spied my meal behind a fern,

And slithered close to see,

But Ratty didn’t even turn,

And soon was food for me.

I wrapped my “arm” around him then,

And told him not to fear,

“It’s just so you won’t feel it when

I swallow you, my dear.”

Though Ratty passed out right away,

And slipped right down my throat,

It would be wrong for me to say,

I didn’t smile and gloat.

He kicked a bit when he awoke,

He scrabbled in my gut,

And rather than to lose the bloke,

I kept my big mouth shut.