SUNGAI PETANI – A teacher experienced a frightening moment after discovering that a reticulated python weighing about 60 kilogrammes had been hiding in the ceiling of her bathroom at her home in Taman Bandar Baru PKNK here on Wednesday.
The incident at around 4pm was first noticed by her 15-year-old daughter, who had just returned from school. The daughter informed her that the bathroom ceiling had collapsed, making her too scared to use it.
"At that time, I was in a meeting and my daughter sent me a photo of the fallen ceiling. When I arrived home, I immediately checked the bathroom and on the broken part of the ceiling, it looked like a piece of batik cloth.
"I was puzzled as to how batik cloth could be on the ceiling, before my daughter used her phone camera to zoom in on the area and that was when the python’s body could clearly be seen," she said.
She later contacted the Malaysian Civil Defence Force (APM) to request assistance in removing the reptile, but only realised its large size when it fell from the ceiling.
“When the reticulated python was pulled out and fell from the ceiling, I was shocked because it was huge.
"I thought it was just an ordinary snake… I had never seen a snake that big in front of my eyes… it was so large that I screamed ‘anaconda’.
“I am grateful we noticed it early; I cannot imagine what would have happened if such a big snake had already entered the house," she said.
She said the python had likely slithered in through the soursop tree behind the house, as she had noticed an overturned flower pot two days before the incident.
“This is the first time a snake has entered the house. Behind the house, there is a swampy area, so maybe it came from there. I had to clean the floor and carpet because there was a fishy smell," she said.
The incident, she said, had left her and her two children traumatised and they now remain cautious every time they need to use the bathroom.