Watch a Massive Python Hang like Spider-Man and Devour a Bird

Click Play to Watch a Carpet Python Catch a Bird

We’re not quite sure how this poor bird managed to get itself into this awful predicament, but it’s fairly certain that its fate is now sealed! This is an extraordinary sight of a carpet python literally dangling from a roof in a move Spider-Man would have been proud of. The snake’s powerful coils encircle a medium-sized bird which is probably already dead. Now all it has to do is get itself and the bird back up to a location where it can devour it. With a body as muscular as that, it should not take too long.

Carpet Pythons – The Basics

Carpet pythons are found in Australia and Papua New Guinea. They get their name from their scale colors which look a bit like a woven carpet in browns, yellows, and blacks. They can live up to 20 years and grow to 20 feet – that’s a lot of coils!

These snakes can move along the ground, and some have even been spotted crossing roads! However, they can also climb trees (you will see them wrapped around branches) and onto roofs, as we see here. They can tolerate arid to temperate climates and prefer woodlands, grasslands, or rocky cliffs. There are actually four types of carpet pythons that live in different areas.

These guys are known for being pretty laid back and are popular pets, but they will bite if startled as they have curved backward-facing teeth! This will hurt, but they are not venomous. Having said that, they tend to thrive in captivity but will need a large enclosure with temperature regulation.

Hunting for Prey

According to the Queensland Government Department of Environment and Science, these snakes are often found on roofs of houses and sheds. They hunt using an ambush method. So, they wait patiently (usually after dark) for some prey to come walking by. Their targets are possums, rats, and birds, although the smaller snakes will also feed on lizards.

This makes them quite useful for rodent control in some areas. They grasp the prey and then wrap their body around it to suffocate it. There have been some reports of them catching small dogs. Once the prey is dead, it is swallowed whole, which sadly is the fate of this bird.

The photo featured at the top of this post is © Nagel Photography/Shutterstock.com