Reptiles found in the Kruger - The Brown house snake

Adult brown house snake. 

Brown house snakes are one of many species of African house snakes found across sub-Saharan Africa. They are medium in size and non-venomous with a variety of patterns and may be striped, spotted or even solid in colour. African house snakes are sexually dimorphic, meaning that females grow to be larger than their male counterparts, with females reaching up to 783 mm and males up to 656 mm in length.  

Brown house snakes are light brown to reddish brown in colour and darken with age on top while their underparts are an off white colour. There are two distinctive pale yellow streaks running across each side of the head from the tip of the snout through the eye but do not run down more than a third of their body length. 

Habitat

African house snakes, as mentioned are found throughout sub-Saharan African, are able to adapt and live in a variety of habitats. They are referred to as ‘house’ snakes due to often being found settled under stones or in rocky areas of gardens and in the homes of people. These snakes live in underground borrows, scrublands, woodlands, savannah and mountainous areas.

Behaviour

African house snakes that have ventured from the wild are often very nervous if approached by humans and will try to slither away in response. Brown house snakes and their relatives are said to make good pets and make for the perfect first choice of snake for a beginner.

Some may become aggressive during feeding, eating all the food for themselves and preventing others from feeding. In some cases, ravenous hatchlings will eat their smaller brothers and sisters, so it is suggested that all hatchings are best kept apart.

Juvenile brown house snake. 

Diet

Adult brown house snakes eat mostly rodents but will also feed on frogs, lizards and birds while juvenile snakes eat lizards and geckos.

These snakes are powerful constrictors; able to snatch rodents in their jaws before unleashing a strong and deadly grip around the prey. Once the rodent is no longer alive, the grip is released and the unfortunate victim is eaten head first.  

Reproduction

House snakes lay up to 16 eggs in the summer month among vegetable debris or compost, on average 2 months after mating. Females usually stop eating after the first month of gestation and begin a shed cycle before laying her eggs 5 to 10 days later. Hatchlings take between 60 and 75 days to develop within the egg before hatching. When born, hatchings are around 20 cm in length and begin to shed within a week of leaving their eggs.

Did you know?

Those that prey on brown house snakes are larger snakes and birds of prey. 

Reptiles found in the Kruger - The African rock python

An African rock python.

The African Rock Python is the largest of all snakes found slithering around in Africa and may reach or exceed an impressive length of 6 metres (20 ft). However, males from this non-venomous species of snake, usually reach 5 metres while female reach 4.25 metres in length. There are two subspecies of this incredibly large snake; one is found in Central and Western Africa while the other is found in parts of Southern Africa. The species from Southern African is generally smaller than its relative living in Central and Western Africa.

This snakes' thick body is a grey-green or brownish colour covered in blotches, ranging from a mix of brown, olive, chestnut to yellow colours, often merging up into a wide and asymmetrical stripe. On the crown of their heads they are marked with a large spearhead shape while a triangular shaped marking of dark and light bands run from each eye to their lip. Their scales are small and smooth and their teeth sharp and curved backwards, delivering a painful bite anchoring into the victim, that if left untreated may lead to a nasty infection. Pythons have two functioning lungs unlike the majority of snakes only have one. They also have small and visible pelvic spurs which are believed to the remains of hind legs from prehistoric times. 

Habitat

Both sub-species are found in sub-Saharan Africa, with Northern African rock pythons living in parts of Central and West Africa and the Southern African rock python found living in parts of Southern African countries such as Kenya and South Africa among others.

African rock python.

Depending on which subspecies of African rock python, they live in a wide range of habitats, which include savannahs, woodlands, grasslands, forests, semi-deserts and rocky areas, avoiding very dry desert areas. They often live in areas where a permanent source of water can be found such as swamps, lakes or along river banks.

Behaviour

They are solitary animals and will only seek out other pythons during breeding season. Due to their large size they mainly stay on ground but are able to climb if need be. They are great swimmers and can even stay submerged under water for long periods of time. Although mostly nocturnal they will bask in the sun during the day soaking in the sun’s rays for thermoregulation purposes. These snakes have a reputation for being aggressive and unpredictable, and will bite and constrict if feeling very threatened or unable to escape.

Diet

The African Rock python has heat-sensitive pits positioned near their lips, which are used to detect the location of warm-blooded animals that could be potential prey and are even able to pick up their location in the dark.

After capturing the prey, the python coils around it, tightening its grip with each breath of the victim, causing crushing of internal organs and suffocation; this method is called constriction. It will then eat the prey whole which leads to large meals taking months to digest.

Submerged in a swamp.

They have a carnivorous diet, feeding mostly on large rodents, monkeys, warthogs, antelopes, fruit bats, monitor lizards and even crocodiles in the wild but if they find themselves in suburban areas they will eat rats, poultry, dogs and goats.

Reproduction

Once reaching the age of sexual maturation between 3 to 5 years, African rock pythons seek out one another when the mating season arrives in spring. Females lay between 50 to 50 hard-shelled, elongated eggs in the safety of an old animal burrow, termite mound or cave. 

She coils around the eggs in order to protect them from predators till they hatch around 65 to 80 days later. The mother will also guard her python babies from predators for up to 2 weeks after hatched. Juvenile African rock pythons appear like duplicates of adult pythons expect more brightly coloured.

Did you know?

These carnivorous snakes are preyed upon by hyenas, wild dogs and big cats such as leopards.