X-ray has revealed a female carpet python that died after being run over by a car was carrying 12 eggs. Zookeepers were able to salvage the eggs after her premature death, and they are due to hatch in late January.
The python, called Pitta, was taken to the Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital in Beerwah, on Queensland's Sunshine Coast, according to a report posted on 1 December by the Daily Mail newspaper.
X-ray showed the deceased female carpet snake was carrying 12 eggs. Image courtesy of Australia Zoo Wildlife Warriors.Carpet pythons are medium-sized pythons that can grow up to 3.6 m in length. The average adult carpet python is 2.5 meters long and is the largest snake found in southeast Queensland, the article stated. They typically eat a variety of birds and mammals and are nonvenomous to humans. However, a bite to a human by a carpet python can still cause damage, including deep puncture wounds. Tetanus protection is recommended following bites. Carpet pythons like to live in above-ground areas such as shrubbery, rooves, or wall cavities.
Also known as Morelia spilota, carpet snakes are extremely variable in color and pattern. Most specimens are olive green, with pale, dark-edged blotches, stripes, or cross-bands. They live in open forests, rainforests, coastal heaths, rural lands, parklands, and suburban gardens across Australia, the Daily Mail noted.
