Kerala: Mother Python With 24 Eggs Found During NH Widening, Work Stopped For 54 Days To Allow Incubation: Report

Classified under Schedule I of Wildlife Protection Act, like tigers, pythons enjoy same high-level legal protection in India. Work on the highway has resumed and the snakelets released into the wild.

Representational image of an Indian rock python.

Source : Getty

New Delhi: An infrastructure company building a national highway stretch in Kerala’s Kasaragod stopped work on a culvert for nearly two months to allow a mother python to hatch her eggs. The snake hatched 24 eggs in all, with the Department of Forest engaging a dedicated snake rescuer to attend to the reptile daily, according to a report in The New Indian Express. The snakelets have been released into the wild, and work on the highway has resumed.

The four-lane highway stretch is being built by the Uralungal Labour Contract Co-operative Society Ltd (ULCCS). On March 20, workers building the culvert at Eriyal to widen the NH-66 spotted an Indian rock python coiled up inside a burrow 4 feet below the road level.

They informed the forest department, and subsequently a decision was taken to suspend the work.

"All the 24 eggs hatched. We released 15 babies into the wild yesterday and nine will be released tonight," Ameen Adkathbail, the snake rescuer, said Sunday, as quoted by The New Indian Express.

The snakes were released in the forest in Mulleria.

Classified under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, like tigers, pythons enjoy the same high-level legal protection in India.

Why Work Had To Be Stopped  

After the forest department visited the site and saw the burrow, they called in Ameen, who has been rescuing snakes for the past 10 years. He found several eggs inside the burrow where the python sat curled up around them. The report said Ameen then got in touch with herpetologist Maveesh Kumar, a Kasaragod native who heads the Wildlife Research at Nepal's Mithila Wildlife Trust, for advice. 

"Maveesh advised me not to shift the eggs because eggs may not hatch without the mother python's warmth," Ameen was quoted as saying.

The department then requested ULCCS to suspend the work, and the company agreed. It decided to work at another site until the python hatched her eggs. "Though it is a time-bound project it (ULCCS) consented to it. Approaching the NHAI and getting the permission to stop the work would have been cumbersome," Kasaragod divisional forest officer P Biju told the daily.

Eggs Shifted After They Started To Crack 

Python eggs usually take around 60 to 65 days to hatch, and need a controlled temperature — 27 degrees to 31 degrees Celsius — to incubate. According to experts, a temperature rise can cause deformities in the newborns and the mother snake ensures the right temperature by wrapping herself around them. 

The NIE report said Ameen checked on the snake once or twice every day, and the eggs were seen to start cracking on the 54th day, which meant the eggs were found around a week after they were laid.

It was then decided to move the eggs because the mother python's presence is not essential any more. "...we decided to shift the eggs to my house," Ameen was quoted as saying.

He crawled 3 feet inside the burrow to take the eggs out, and saw the mother resting in another hole there. “She did not attack me..." he said.

All the 24 eggs finally hatched at his house in Kasaragod, which he called “rare”.

The report said ULCCS has resumed work on the highway.