McMartinVille--Reptiles

 
NO NEED FOR A CAR, CLICKED YER MOUSE... AND HERE YOU ARE! "McMartinVille"
 

Stimson's Python

 

Order:  Squamata (scaled reptiles)
Suborder:  Serpentes (=Ophidia) (snakes)
Family:  Boidae (boas and pythons)
Genus:  Liasis (Australian pythons)

Scientific Name:  Liasis stimsoni Smith, 1985

Habitat:  Arid environments.

Length: About 3 feet total. Also called Antaresia saxacola by some.
Food:  Small vertebrates. Stimson's Python Range

I found this specimen along the Carpentaria Highway, stretched out, absorbing the heat from the road.  The python was very pale, with a barely discernible pattern of vertical bars on its sides.  I'm not 100% sure it's a Stimson's Python--it could very well be a Children's Python (Liasis childreni)--the stretch of road I was traveling is potentially inhabited by both.

Stimson's Python
I set my video camera down on the road with the car behind it, casting the glow of the headlights onto the python.  I then lay down behind the snake to get a decent size comparison.  After talking about the snake for about 15 seconds, something startled it, and it lurched the front half of its body into the air and away from me, slithering off the side of the road.
In the second picture, you can see the earplugs I wore while driving--given the road conditions and the noise generated by the car, I would've gone deaf after a couple of days' driving during my trip! Chris with Stimson's Python