The Natal Rock Python (Python sebae natalensis) is a huge, thick non-venomous snake, found close to water in forests and deserts of southern and eastern Africa.
They have a triangular head and distinct markings that are brown, olive, or yellowish in colour. The colours darken with age. Old pythons can be almost black. Their scales are small and smooth.
They have sharp, backwardly curved teeth.
Natal Rock Python
The Natal Rock Python can grow to 6 metres (20 feet) long.
They are nocturnal because they are more active at night. They are terrestrial (living on land), but young pythons can climb trees.
To kill their prey, they strike and then constrict (squeeze) the animal, which includes monkeys, dogs, porcupines, baboons, hyraxes, waterbirds, hares, rabbits, gazelles, impala, goats, and rats.
Natal Rock Pythons are oviparious, which means that they lay eggs. They lay between 20-100 hard-shelled, elongated eggs in an old animal burrow or termite mound. The female cares for the eggs until they hatch around 90 days later.
Natal Rock Python
older Natal Rock Python
Scales of a Natal Rock Python
Photographer: Martina Nicolls
Martina Nicolls: SIMILAR BUT DIFFERENT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM