Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am a missionary kid that grew up in Ivory Coast, West Africa. I have been into the deep jungle a couple of times with my good Friend, Kouadio. He is Ivoirian and lives in a small village about 100 miles from Abidjan. He was hunting monkey one day (I was not with him at the time) and was trying to stealthfully sneak up on a group of them. He crouched down into a crawling position pushing his shotgun in front of him. He felt what he thought was a large branch fall on his arm. When he looked down to remove the branch he noticed the very large head of a Rock Python firmly attached to his arm. The snake had already started wraping itself around him when he grabbed the snake by the neck and ripped the snake off of his arm. He was then able to get his shotgun with the injured arm and blow its head off. He made his way back to his village losing lots of blood on the way. He had evidently severed the vein in the crook of his elbow while ripping the snake off. When he arrived at his village he was very weak and was rushed to the local clinic where they pumped him full of antivenom that almost killed him. His friends returned to the sight to retrieve the snake to eat. They were only able to return with half of it because they claim that it was 12 meters long. I knew that they had no real way of measuring it so I asked him where they got the tape measure. My friend explained that they measure 1 meter = the distance from the middle of your chest to the end of your hand. This is more or less correct depending on the individual. 12 meters is more than 36 ft! Does anyone out there know if this is even possible for this species? My friend also gave me the skin from the half that they brought back. It stunk and hadn't been tacked out but was fairly sun dried. I dried it some more when I got it and it shrunk about 3 or 4 feet. I then had it treated by a local African tanner. It is now 12'7" but I know that it shrunk alot before I got it. Does anyone know if it is possible to determine the original length from the skin that I have? What is the record length for a Rock? Which snake holds the world record and how long was it? I also heard from other Africans that it is not uncommon in remote areas for these snakes to kill and eat poeple. One person I talked to said that he had actually witnessed someone from his village being cut from the belly of one of these snakes. He was part of the search party sent to find the man after he had been missing.

Can you upload a picture of the snake skin that you now own? I don't know what the record length for a rock python is but im almost certain it is less that 30 feet, probably by a good bit. Also it seems odd that he would be given antivenin... since a snake of that size would leave a wound large enough to not be confused with any venomous species.

I will upload a picture when I figure out how to do it. Any advice?

The clinic was basically a hut with some medical supplies. My understanding is that all snake bites are treated with antivenin…regardless. They are not very familiar with the different species. To my African friend all snakes are poisonous. When I would go hunting with him he would waste no time blowing away any snake we encountered…from green emerald to Gaboon viper, it made no difference to him.

The largest specimen that has been reported is the Ivory Coast female from 1932 that was said to have been taped at 32 ft 2 in. However, there is some doubt as to the authenticity of that record. I have a feeling that the measurement was taken from a fresh skin. Large sebae typically run 15 to 20 feet with anything over 20 feet considered very exceptional. From everything I have read over the last 30 years, I would put the record at more like 25 to 27 feet.

Kelly

Your friend needs to read some books by the late, great, African snake hunter C.J.P. IONIDES.

in the story to be true. Normal "story" stuff. Always a "friend of a friend", or "someone knows someone who.." The snake always grows in the telling

And skins usually stretch, not shrink. I think it was about 8-9' long when alive.

True...true.
Hence my question. How believable is their story?

But skin is like bacon. When it is fresh it will stretch, but after being "cooked" in the sun for a couple of weeks I observed it shrink at least 3 feet. It had already been cooking a couple of weeks before I got it. Also, this skin was never tacked out as is customary when tanning a skin to help it keep it's shape and prevent shrinkage. Personally I do believe it was a very large rock python, but who knows?

They always grow in stories

Even American snakes.

I have only seen one P. sebae that was 18' long. I had her and she was very tame and over 200 lbs. She was sold to the San Diego Zoo. Most BIG sebae are 12'-15' long and I doubt they ever grow much over 20'...thanks...THEY DO EAT HUGE PREY HOWEVER...
-----
Tom Crutchfield
www.tomcrutchfield.com