A reluctant snake owner has revealed how her greedy python keeps eating all of her other pets, including four guinea pigs, three rabbits and a cat, and whenever she tries to get rid of him he comes slithering back for more.
Carolyn Reynolds began taking care of an olive python, which they later named Charlie, in 1994 after spotting him around their Darwin home when he was about 80 centimetres.
Ms Reynolds relocated the snake a number of times whenever her family would move so they could continue feeding and looking after him, but twice she never thought she would see him again.
Charlie the python would go back to his owner whenever she tried to ditch him
Carolyn Reynolds’ family cared for Charlie since 1994 when he was only 80cm
During his time in their home Charlie devoured not only their four pet guinea pigs and three pet rabbits, but also their cherished white cat Snowy in 2004.
It wasn’t until 2006 Ms Reynolds decided to remove Charlie from their residence to her rock climbing business in Darwin’s CBD, which sits near two acres of rain forest.
‘I moved the snake to the business premises as there is a superb rain forest and as we had moved from the large farm to a new house in Bayview with a smaller garden I felt this was a better, safer place for Charlie.’
While attending to The Rock Centre’s garden one afternoon Ms Reynold’s went to pull what she thought was a weed however it turned out to be Charlie’s tail.
‘He must have got a fright,’ Ms Reynolds explained, ‘and he took a big bite into my arm, it even lodged one of his fangs in there.’
Charlie and Ms Reynold’s were reunited, and in fear that Charlie could bite a child it was decided to take the snake to a holiday house at the Lake Bennett Resort in Batchelor.
Ms Reynolds left Charlie at the other side of the lake from her weekend home which she estimates is around two kilometres away.
‘I never expected to see him again after I took him to Lake Bennett from Darwin,’ she told Daily Mail Australia.
He is now five metres long and twice when he was abandoned, he returned
The biologist, who has also taught biology in schools, bought the Lake Bennett resort in 2015 with plans to turn it into a school for indigenous youths.
Since purchasing the property Ms Reynolds claimed to have spotted Charlie lurking around the property but it wasn’t until Monday, when she saw a five metre long snake stuck behind her air conditioning unit, that they were brought back together once more.
‘I was absolutely delighted to see that Charlie was still alive and very healthy after all this time.’
The five metre snake had wrapped his mouth around a wallaby and had become lodged in the air unit, just outside of Ms Reynolds’ room.
She knows it is Charlie because of the V shaped scar at the top of his head.
He now needs a new home where all children can follow his future story.
He was removed and is now being looked after by a snake expert, but Ms Reynold’s is thinking about having him back but only if he is kept in a very large enclosure.