VIDEO: Python found in West Rand house

The homeowner, Mona Louw, said the smell caused by the python invited unwanted blowflies to their house for two weeks, Roodepoort Record reported.

“At first I thought the smell stems from dead rats that could be in the roof, so it was really a shocker when we discovered it was a snake,” Mona said.

She said when her son fetched the python on Tuesday, he closed his nose with a towel because of the intensity of the smell.

In the video, the snake is seen lying on the ground.

Watch video here.

Snake expert, Darryn Rogers said pythons are not necessarily aggressive and venomous.

“Pythons do not bite but squeeze their prey to death. The roof is the warmest place in a house, which is why any snake would choose to reside there,” he said.

Darryn mentioned the python may have been a pet snake of a nearby resident, which is the reason why it was found in the roof of a home.

Mona said she is happy the snake is gone, as the smell has subsided too.

In a separate incident, an African rock python died in unusual circumstances after swallowing a giant 13.8 kilogram porcupine at a private game park in South Africa, in June.

The 3.9 metre snake should have been able to cope with the porcupine no matter how prickly the quills, Lake Eland Game Reserve’s Jennifer Fuller told AFP.

But she suspects the python became stressed from being watched by visitors fascinated by the bulge in its body — and died when the quills got stuck as it tried to regurgitate the animal.

“It’s not unusual for pythons to eat porcupines; it’s part of their diet,” Fuller said.

“We think that maybe with so many people viewing it, (that) put it under stress and when a snake is under stress it normally regurgitates and brings up its meal so that it can get away,” she said.

“Sadly it did die, which is unusual because it should have been fine,” said Fuller.

– Caxton News Service