Most species of python can grow into an extremely huge size. Adults are capable of growing to 6.95 m (22.8 ft) in length. However the usual size averages 3–6 m (10–20 ft).
Pythons are actually the world's longest snakes and longest reptile, but are not the most heavily built. Like all pythons, they are nonvenomous constrictors and normally not considered dangerous to humans. Although large specimens are powerful enough to kill an adult human, attacks are only occasionally reported.
Excellent swimmers, Pythons have been spotted far out at sea and have colonised many small islands within their range.
Attacks on humans are rare, but this species has been responsible for several human fatalities, in both the wild and captivity. They are among the few snakes that sometimes prey on humans. In rare instances this snake species has even consumed human beings. Reports of human fatalities caused by pythons include:
* Two incidents, apparently in early 20th century Indonesia: On Salibabu, a 14-year-old boy was killed and eaten by a specimen 5.17 m (c.17 ft) in length. Another incident involved an adult woman reputedly eaten by a "large reticulated python".
* Franz Werner reported a case from Burma occurring either in the early 1910s or in 1927.A jeweller named Maung Chit Chine, who went hunting with his friends, was apparently eaten by a 6 m (20 ft.) specimen after he sought shelter from a rainstorm in or under a tree. Supposedly, he was swallowed feet-first, contrary to normal snake behavior, but perhaps the easiest way for a snake to actually swallow a human.
* In 1932, Frank Buck wrote about a teenage boy who was eaten by a pet 25 ft (7.6 m). reticulated python in the Philippines. According to Buck, the python escaped, and when it was found, a human child's shape was recognised inside the snake. It turned out to be the son of the snake's owner.
* Among a small group of Agta negritos in the Philipppines, six deaths by python have been documented within a period of 40 years, plus one who died later of an infected bite.
* On September 4, 1995, Ee Heng Chuan, a 29-year-old rubber tapper from the southern Malaysian state of Johor, was killed by a large reticulated python. The victim had apparently been caught unaware and was squeezed to death. The snake had coiled around the lifeless body with the victim's head gripped in its jaws when it was stumbled upon by the victim's brother. The python, measuring 23 ft (7.0 m) long and weighing more than 300 lb, was killed soon after by the arriving police, who required four shots to bring it down.
* On October 23, 2008, a 25-year-old Virginia Beach, Virginia woman, Amanda Ruth Black, appeared to have been killed by a 13-foot (4.0 m) pet reticulated python. The apparent cause of death was asphyxiation. The snake was later found in the bedroom in an agitated state.
* On January 21, 2009, a 3-year-old Las Vegas boy was wrapped by an 18-foot (5.5 m) pet reticulated python, turning blue. The boy's mother, who had been babysitting the python on behalf of a friend, rescued the toddler by gashing the python with a knife. The snake was later euthanised because of its fatal wounds.
* Considering the known maximum prey size, it is technically possible for a full-grown specimen of python reticulatus to open its jaws wide enough to swallow a human teenager, the problem would be the width of the shoulders of some adult humans which would likely pose a problem for even a snake with sufficient size.
Read about the Kenyan case where a woman was killed and swallowed whole by a python in Maliza stress magazine. You can order the online edition HERE. It is easy.
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