Hey everyone,
My folks work in Nigeria; therefore, they have friends all over the continent with bizarre stories to tell.
Recently a night shift operator in Angola was asleep on the job at the refinery and this bad boy came up from the nearby jungle and proceeded to bite and constrict the man around his waist. He woke up and screamed until the security came. Unfortunately they shot the snake (the blood on the operator is from the snake).
My question is...what sort of snake would you guess it was? My flat mate and I are a little stumped and I don't know much about West African boids. Best I can tell you for local is the snake was found on the south western coast of Angola. Just thought I'd share a little story from the Dark Continent.
Aaron
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"Bones heal, chicks dig scars. Pain is temporary, glory is forever."
-Evil Knevel
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Angolan night shift operator attacked by boid. What type is it?
Replies (5)
Looks like an african rock python (Python sebae).
Eric
Best guess is a Rock Python. That's the only large boid I know of in Africa. Good picture- here in North America you kind of take for granted that you won't be eaten by a snake at work unless you work at a zoo or exotic pet shop. Kind of puts things in perspective- "Man, I had a rough day at work, nearly got eaten by a snake"... 
Lora
I would have to agree. There is the Angolan Python, but it's only about 7 feet fully grown (from what I've read). Plus, they are super rare where as the rock python is much more common. Here is a pic of an Angolan:
www.pythons.com/angolan.html
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~redmom~ 
My Email
Wow! That's unreal! That snake isn't even that big! The snake in the pic is definately a rock python. I would completely rule out an Angolan python. From what I read, they are similar to ball pythons in temperment and size (males seldom over 4', females seldom over 5'). There is an article about them (Angolans) in the most recent issue of Reptiles magazing in the Ask the Breeder column by Jerry Walls.
Yeah my flat mate and I figured it was rock later. we were surprised we couldn't think of it at the time. probably just in awe that a snake of that size would bite AND try to constrict a full grown man. Goes to show that to some snakes no meal is too big.
Aaron
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"Bones heal, chicks dig scars. Pain is temporary, glory is forever."
-Evil Knevel
