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Queensland Resident Finds Snake 'Chilling' in Watering Can

A carpet python was found taking a nap in a watering can near North Lakes, Queensland, footage shared to Facebook shows.

Snake catcher Joshua Castle published the video on his Facebook page on May 11.

Castle said he was called by a customer who “noticed a carpet python chilling in her watering can.”

The snake, which Castle estimated was a two-year-old carpet python, was, he said, enjoying its “nice, dark, hiding spot” until Castle was tasked to remove it.

In the video, Castle explained that carpet pythons often soak themselves in water to get rid of parasites. They will also sit in water to soften their skin when they need to shed.

The snake was later safely relocated to bushland nearby to “go about his day elsewhere.” Credit: Joshua Castle via Storyful

Video transcript

- Hi.

- Hi, how are you? Thank you.

- Thanks for coming so quickly. Hello, how are you?

- Hi. Good, thank you.

- So story was, with the snake. It's in here. I've just got in. It wasn't in the pool area. And I went to-- I think it's because-- it was in water. So this was--

- OK.

- It is alive. It is--

- So it's on its side.

- It was half full. So the watering can was standing up. It was half full of water. And I went to empty-- because with the rain.

- Yeah.

- I went to empty the rain out, and I saw the snake in there. And I thought it was dead at first. And so I emptied all the water out and just left it down. And then I saw a snake moving in there. So of course, I'll just leave it on its side like that when it's still shady out there. I thought it might come up by itself. But it's like a couple of hours later now, and it's not wanting to come out.

- It's found a nice dark hiding spot. So--

- Yeah.

- So it won't leave.

- But I wondered if it was safe for--

- No, it's of that age. It was flicking its tongue, which is a good sign to begin with. And it's at that age--

- I did see that.

- Yeah, and it's at that age and size to where it's not as young as what we've all thought, essentially probably a couple of years old.

- Is it a python snake?

- Yeah, yeah. And yeah, being that it is of a mature age--

- Is it mature, is it? Huh. I thought it was a baby because it's small.

- Yeah, babies are about 30 centimeters.

- Oh, here it comes. Oh look, he's beautiful.

- Hey, buddy.

- Aw. Ah!

- So yeah, a little bit bigger than what I was thinking while walking into it. So yeah, being this age, it's very unlikely that he would have drowned himself in there.

- OK.

- And they can hold their breath for quite some time as well.

- Oh, really? Well, it was probably only about a quarter full so he could probably get his head out.

- Yeah, yeah, exactly.

- I don't know how long he'd been in there, though.

- And they do do that quite often. They soak themselves in water to get rid of parasites like, you know, little ticks, mites, whatever they have--

- Oh.

- --sucking their blood.

- OK

- So-- oh, and also, when they need to shed their skin as well, they'll sort of sit in water.

- Oh, OK.

- Just to soften it up. Doesn't look like it's coming up to a shed. It looks pretty fresh. But yeah, so it's a very common situation to run into carpet pythons wanting to just soak in water.

- Actually, he looks quite healthy now he's out.

- Yeah.

- I was worried that he might be sick, but--

- No, he's perfectly.

- Well, that's good. Well, I'll be happy to-- can you just take him away and rehouse him? I don't really want him in the backyard if we can. Thank you for coming so quickly.

- It's no problem.

- Can I just?

- Yeah.

- There you go.

- Not what you thought?

- No. I always thought they were sort of slimy.

- Oh yeah, that's what everyone thinks. You want to have another feel?

- Yeah, I don't mind. He's not poisonous, this one, is he?

- No.

- Oh.

- They do bite. So don't stick your hand in front of its face. And just no sudden movement.

- No.

- Try to keep him as still as I can.

- Yeah, that's fine.

- Look.

- Yeah, that's fine.

- We'll have to open that bag up a little bit more, try and get him to go in.

- Yeah.

- I was worried if he just-- if he was sick if he just stayed in that can, he'd just die. And I didn't want that to happen. So--

- Go on.

- Aw. So what would you do with him now? Just take him out in the bush somewhere?

- Yeah, just goes back into conservation.

- Yeah, that's good.

- Let him do his thing--

- Yeah.

- --elsewhere.

- Has to find some other water to soak himself in.

- Yeah. There's a good spot at Mango Hill that gets flooded with this sort of weather. So--

- Yeah, right.

- And you know, not every carpet python does what he does. They've sort of got their own little personalities and what they want to do.

- OK.

- Obviously, he likes to soak himself. So we'll find him somewhere where he can--

- Yeah.

- --soak himself.

- That's good. Thank you so--

- You're all right. Any good ones there?

- Oh, I'm videotaping.

- Ah.

- Do you want me to take photos?

- Oh, whatever.

- Yeah.

- What are you doing?

- Oh, just video.

- All right, so we got this beautiful carpet Python from the watering can. That is a pretty common scenario. So they'll sit-in water and soak themselves for many different reasons, parasites being one, like mites and ticks, stuff like that.

Also, it does look like he does have some dry shed. I didn't notice that before. But you can see some dry shed right there.

So yeah, he would have just been sitting in the water trying to soak his dry skin to make it come off. Cool fact about their skin-- it's made out of the same stuff our fingernails are made out of. That's how they can slither over real sharp objects in the wild and, yeah, not get cut and whatnot.

He does have a few little battle wounds here and there. What that's from, nobody knows. But other than that, he seems pretty good to let go. He's such a little sweetheart.