Not many of us are brave enough to take on a two-metre African python, but that is exactly what the Van Wyks, who live out on the Uitkyk Road, did, with the assistance of their two small pets.
While we are warned “not to nurse a snake on one’s bosom,” this family almost did just that by keeping it safe for a night instead of killing it. They later releasing the reptile into its more natural habitat.
When Tashai van Wyk’s Yorkshire terriers kept on barking, she had to investigate. Seeing nothing, she assumed it was the usual nocturnal visitors such as wild cats or porcupines.
@lowvelder WATCH: A two-metre-long African rock python was discovered under a couch at Tashai van Wyk’s house on the Uitkyk road in Mbombela. Video: Tashai van Wyk #snakesoftiktok #python #pythonsoftiktok #mbombela #snakesoftiktok #snakes #wildsighting
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Those who live in the bush are used to strange critters sharing their homes now and again, but when her dogs kept on alerting her to a possible danger, she looked under a couch. Great was her shock when she saw the python, who must have shared her recliner as she sat on it before going to bed.
After, as Van Wyk said, ‘freaking out’, they managed to guide the non-aggressive reptile with a broom into a box. They kept it until the next morning before they released it unharmed into the nearby rocks and bushes.
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During the warm weather, snakes, which are cold-blooded, venture outside, and some even enter homes, but that is the exception. However, many pets have succumbed to snakebites in the veld, making the Van Wyks extremely grateful that their beloved and alert Yorkies were not harmed in any way.
“We kept it until the morning and released it in the bush. We stay in the bush, surrounded by rocks, but this was the first time we had a snake in our house. We’ve had a few outside, though. I am glad that none of our pets were harmed, and neither was the snake, which is now back in the bushes where it belongs,” she said.
