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A python in Queensland, Australia, got quite a scratchy surprise when the 5-foot-long (1.5 meters) snake gulped down a tennis ball this week. Luckily for the reptile, veterinarians were able to remove the sporting good before the python starved to death.
"[The snake] would've died eventually from starvation, as it wouldn't have been able to digest the ball or have anything pass it," Trish Prendergast, senior vet nurse at Townsville Veterinary Clinic, where the ball was removed, told Live Science.
A local resident spotted the bulging snake, a coastal carpet python (Morelia spilota mcdowelli), Monday (Feb. 6) in a backyard in Belgian Gardens, a suburb of Townsville in Queensland, and called a snake catcher to remove it. Brian West, another licensed snake catcher from Townsville Vet, did the honor, Prendergast said.
An X-ray revealed the snake had chowed down on a tennis ball.
(Image credit: Trish Prendergast)
"I put a plastic tube down its throat and put some paraffin oil down it [as lubrication] to help the ball come up easier," said Prendergast, who is also the reptile coordinator at North Queensland Wildlife Care Inc.
She massaged the snake's body while keeping constant pressure on the bottom of the ball. Finally, after about 20 minutes, the snake regurgitated the ball.
The snake is doing great, she said, adding that it was fed today (Feb. 9) and will be released back into the wild next week.
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As for why the python partook in a tennis-ball meal, she said the ball likely smelled like prey; a dog, bird or perhaps a frog had touched the ball.
This python is not alone in its odd dining habits. In the summer of 2015, a python bit off more than it could "chew," engulfing a 30-lb. (13.8 kilograms) porcupine. Park rangers in the Lake Eland Game Reserve in South Africa found the engorged animal dead, though they aren't sure if the spiky snack caused its demise. Another python, a 16-foot-long (5 m) Burmese python, gulped down three deer in the Everglades before it had to be euthanized. In addition to the remains of the venison meal in the python's gut, the biologists found a whopping 14 lbs. (6.5 kg) of fecal matter.
Jeanna Bryner is managing editor of Scientific American. Previously she was editor in chief of Live Science and, prior to that, an editor at Scholastic's Science World magazine. Bryner has an English degree from Salisbury University, a master's degree in biogeochemistry and environmental sciences from the University of Maryland and a graduate science journalism degree from New York University. She has worked as a biologist in Florida, where she monitored wetlands and did field surveys for endangered species, including the gorgeous Florida Scrub Jay. She also received an ocean sciences journalism fellowship from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. She is a firm believer that science is for everyone and that just about everything can be viewed through the lens of science.
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