A Bowen Mountain resident was left stunned when he watched a Diamond Python attack and consume an entire possum in the backyard of his home in Bowen Mountain on New Years Eve.
John Holroyd said he was shocked when he heard a commotion in a tree in his backyard to then find a python dangling from it with an entire possum hanging out of its mouth.
“It scared the living crap out of me,” Mr Holroyd said.
The weight of the meal eventually saw the snake fall from the tree onto the ground where it continued to constrict and consume its prey.
Mr Holroyd said he first noticed the snake in the tree at 1:50pm and said the snake finished consuming the possum at 4:30pm.
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“I was having a drink with a friend outside when I heard the commotion in the tree. I saw the possum and just thought the rustling was from that … then I saw the python,” he said.
“At that point I ran and got my neighbour and we were just standing there watching.”
Mr Holroyd said eventually he had a group of nine people in his yard watching the python, which is apparently well known to other residents in the street.
“A few of them were saying that they actually know the snake, that they have seen it around before.”
Mr Holroyd moved to Bowen Mountain with his partner Louise Merritt five months ago, and said it was the first time he had seen a snake at his home.
But snake catcher Yo Matthews from Sydney Snake Catchers said Diamond Pythons were actually more common in the area then people know.
“You can find Diamond Pythons all the way up the east coast of NSW,” Mr Matthews said.
“These snakes are non venomous, non territorial, but have the ability to constrict and consume anything up to the size of a brushtail possum.”
Mr Matthews said that if anyone was to come past a scene similar as the one written about above, to keep a safe distance away from the snake.
“Keep your distance, give it its personal space just like any wildlife. Possums are the same, you wouldn’t just walk up to a possum and pat it as cute as they may look.”
Mr Matthews said at no time should anyone attempt to handle a Diamond Python and that it was illegal to do so without a handlers licence.