Image copyrightGold coast and brisbane snake catcher/facebookSnake catchers in Australia have rescued a carpet python which was found covered in hundreds of ticks.Video posted online showed the reptile, which was believed to be ill, coated in the parasites in a backyard swimming pool on the Gold Coast in Queensland.A professional handler removed the snake and took it for treatment at a wildlife clinic.Vets removed more than 500 ticks, snake catcher Tony Harris told the TheIndianSubcontinent, and it is expected to recover.Mr Harris said he believed the snake had been trying to drown the ticks in the pool.
"Obviously, [the snake] was extremely uncomfortable," he said.Image copyrightGold coast and brisbane snake catcher/facebook"Its whole face was swollen and blooming and it was completely overwhelmed by the ticks breeding on him." He said removing the tick-laden snake had felt like "holding a bag of marbles that were moving under my hands".Snakes often pick up small numbers of ticks or other parasites in the wild, said Associate Prof Bryan Fry from the University of Queensland.However the presence of such a large amount of ticks indicated that the snake was likely to have an underlying illness, he said, possibly be due to heat stress or drought conditions.
"Clearly it was a seriously unwell animal to have had its natural defences so broken down," Associate Prof Fry said."I doubt it would have survived if it hadn't been taken out and gotten treatment."