Our New Pet

Well, my flatmate came home a week ago and said, "I've brought you a present."  Now for some reason when people say 'present' I think chocolate. However this was no chocolate.  He had in fact brought home a snake!!  I happened to mention once in passing that I still had not seen a snake in the wild since coming to the Northern Territory.  I didn't expect for him to bring a live one home as a present. "Where are we going to put it?" I said. "This aren't no puppy or kitten we can leave to run around inside." So a huge plastic storage container suddenly got holes drilled into it and, presdo, we have a temporary enclosure. Since then, the enclosure has had many additions including rocks and sand and a black plastic tube for him to hide in. Unfortunately, the real enclosure and 'cool' stuff has to be ordered online and sent, as 'would you believe it' ........no pet shops in Katherine. Grrrrrrrrr

So now we have a Childrens Python.  Named not because he eats children (though it makes for a good tale to tell the kids), nor because they make good childrens pets but rather, named after John George Children. They are also nonvenomous, in case you were thinking I was mad (or madder)!!

Anyway, we have actually all grown very fond of him and have now even named him.  Winston Python (Winny for short), named after, you guessed it, Winston Peters.  We (well I actually), thought Winston Peters is always shedding his skin yet coming back as the same old reptile, so it seemed rather fitting really.  He (the python, not the man), is currently about a metre long and as they live for 30 years, he will likely outlive NZ's Winston Peters.

We of course, don't have snakes in New Zealand so this is all a learning experience and quite exciting! 

Anyway, I took these photos a couple of nights ago with my phone, hence the quality is not great.  If you are a facebook friend of mine then you will be able to see the actual video of me outside playing with him..

Peeking out of his plastic tube. Notice him poking his tongue out at everyone!
 Just like Winston Peters a?

That tongue again, used to sniff out his prey!

Us trying to feed him a skink. Seems he did eat it after we went bed.

Excuse the quality of this photo but it's not easy holding a moving snake in one hand and the phone camera in the other. See in the shadow, his tongue is out AGAIN!