Guest Appearance? 6 Ft Long Python visits Krishnappa’s House at Breakfast Time

Guest Appearance? 6 Ft Long Python visits Krishnappa’s House at Breakfast Time

Mangaluru: K Krishnappa, an environmentalist and “green” activist residing at the Housing Colony in Bondel-Mangaluru, has been featured in mangalorean.com for various reasons- like his involvement in bringing awareness on green environment; his participation in Vanamohotsava; his idea of celebrating children birthdays the environmental way; his regular involvement in Ramakrishna Mission Swachh Mangaluru campaign; etc- but this time, Krishnappa’ story is featured here for his daring act- for catching a nearly 6 ft long, weighing about 8-9 kg Python, which crawled into his house during early morning hours.

According to Krishnappa, he has seen this python a few times wandering in his front and back yard, but his efforts in catching it were all in vain- every time he tried to catch the python, it quickly escaped into the thick bushes or forest. But this time, “Doddanna”, which Krishnappa named the python because of its size, was out of luck. It was around 7.30 am- everyone in Krishnappa’s family were having their morning breakfast. Suddenly Krishnappa’s wife noticed something moving on their sofa- and when she went closer to have a look she was surprised to see a python relaxing on the sofa. Out of fear she yelled loud and alerted the rest of the family members about a python being in the house. Without no time, everyone except Krishnappa ran inside a room and locked them in.

Krishnappa who has past experience of catching snakes, especially pythons, where he had caught five pythons (which were about 6-8 ft long) in the same vicinity years back- so this time the job of catching this smaller python was just a piece of cake job. He slowly tried to whisk away the python from the sofa to out of the front door- and as it was moving out of the house he slowly grabbed its tail and very quickly also its head- and stuffed it inside a bag. The next thing he did was make a call to me, to come there and click few pictures along with a story. But unfortunately I had gone to Goa for a concert- but I insisted that he keeps the python in the bag till I returned- and Krishnappa agreed to do so.

On Sunday, I quickly went to Krishnappa’s house and had all the fun taking some pictures of Krishnappa handling the incredible python. The python was still alive being fed with a couple of frogs bought by Krishnappa from a nearby store. Having superstitious belief, Krishnappa said to me, ” I bet someone related to us might have come back as a python in their second life. It’s rare to see a python always coming near to the house and no relaxing on our sofa. Having sentiments, I am not going to hurt this python nor give it to a zoo, instead will release it back into the woods”. When I suggested Krishnappa of handing over the python to Pilikula Zoo, he replied, “No way- too much hassles, too may procedures and too many questions asked. The workers there are not too cooperative. I have experience dealing with Pilikula in the past”. Oh well!

The python was making some noises while Krishnappa was trying to get it out of the bag, when I asked about it, “When you go near them they have this real deep gurgle in their throat, which means in other words don’t come near me,” he said.

Now that “Doddanna” is released back into the nature near the Housing Colony in Bondel- a piece of advice for the residents of that vicinity- make sure you keep an eye-because you never know “Doddanna” may stop by at your house for lunch or dinner, since he has already made his visit for breakfast at Krishnappa’s house. The python has now been released in the woods in order to deal with a rat problem and other small wild animals. I guess Doddanna has gone to snake heaven and he’s going to be a big fatso!

Now that couple of Monsoon rains has brought Mangaluru many things to rejoice, like lowering temperatures down etc, and there will be a bag of worries as well. While the much-needed respite from the scorching heat is a welcome change, the rains are also the indicators to be more careful about the reptile and rodent menace that increases every year during this time. It is not a rare sight to see houses flooded with water after a heavy downpour. This is especially so with houses which have been built on low-lying areas. This, however, poses a huge risk of reptiles, especially snakes, entering the houses. The city has been constantly reporting such cases in the past.

Animal rescuers say that these days they are basically rescuing snakes in and around individual houses/compounds, but never inside the house. People may have kept garbage, rocks or some unused junk behind which the snakes just go and take shelter during rains. Earlier you would see more of greenery and open spaces where snakes could take shelter below the bushes or rocks. But now with too much development, they have no place to go. During monsoons, when rat-holes get flooded, the snakes come out and take shelter on top of a tree, an open drain or a dry, warm place.

The best way to keep these reptiles away from your homes is to- Keep surroundings clean and free of garbage. Keep your home free of rats and other rodents. Get any garbage dump near your area cleared by the MCC. Lock all the rat holes nearby your home. If you have a garden area, keep it tidy and well-maintained. Keep the pots one foot away from the wall. Turn the porch/verandah lights on if you are going out of your house to do any chores in the night. Close the toilet doors/ the lids of commodes when not in use. Close the lids of sumps properly; get any unwanted openings to sumps repaired. Close the openings of drainage pipes with meshes, so that the sewage can go out but snakes can’t come in. But despite all the precautions taken, what if snakes enter a house along with the flood water? Then its bad luck?