Not flushing? Man finds 23kg python in his toilet

We have all experienced a sense of panic when we flush a toilet and the water doesn’t go down, and it becomes even worse when something unexpected comes up instead. However, it is an entirely different level of terror when what appears in the toilet bowl is the head of a giant python.

Snakes are common enough in Thailand that it’s not too unexpected to spot one in nature or even in a home garden. But the shock is much bigger when a giant python crawls out of your toilet, as a homeowner in Thailand recently discovered.

The story was first shared to a Facebook group called “All About Thailand Snakes” on March 17. A user named “Chang Lantanoy” said the homeowner couldn’t flush the toilet and noticed something coming up instead of the water.

The homeowner was confused until he realized that a python had become stuck inside the plumbing pipes of his home. A local rescue team was quickly called to the home and they tried to manually remove the snake from the pipe.

But when they tried to manually grab the snake and pull it out, the python was too large and firmly wedged in the pipes. They decided to disconnect the pipes and eventually had to cut the pipe in half to get enough wiggle room to dislodge the massive reptile.

Fortunately, they were then able to remove the python and rescue it without injury thanks to the team’s expertise. The team cleaned up the snake and weighed it to discover it was a whopping 23 kilogrammes.

Pictures of the python in the toilet and the pipe went viral on the Facebook group. One photo highlighted just how giant the snake was by comparing it to a big soda bottle.

Pythons are common in Thailand and can be found across the country, including the reticulated python, the longest species of snake in the world. A 4-metre python is not too unusual, and some can grow as long as 6 metres.

There are three species of pythons in Thailand and, aside from the reticulated python, Burmese pythons can also grow over 3 metres long. The Brongerma’s Blood Python is a rare species and smaller than the other two species.

Fortunately, with the presence of so many big snakes, Thailand has some of the most skilled snake catchers to help reign them in. Earlier this month, a foreigner living in the Ao Nang area of Krabi walked outside to find a venomous 3.5-metre-long king cobra lying in the garden in front of his one-storey house. The snake is among the deadliest in the world.

The farang called Ao Nang Subdistrict Organisation Rescue Service whose snake-catching team arrived in no time to swiftly remove the snake. Two snake catchers had the cobra in a sack within minutes of arriving.

Last month, a homeowner in Krabi got a major shock when they discovered a 5 metre king cobra relaxing at their house. The king cobra was hiding under a chair in front of their home in Baan Nanai, Klong Tom Tai sub-district. The snake-catching team arrived at the scene and quickly located the king cobra. They were able to catch the snake in just four minutes, thanks to their expertise in handling such reptiles.