Finding a good Colorado home for one Australian python is tough, but placing two could be a nightmare for the state’s Reptile Humane Society.
One 5-foot jungle carpet python became a ward of the charity Oct. 15 after a 14-year-old boy and his mother spotted it in a park in Longmont, then an almost-identical snake landed in the group’s lap, so to speak, on Saturday.
A Greeley couple saw the colorfully striped nocturnal snake slither under their shed Friday night and lured it into a trash can with a heating pad Saturday.
The first python went unclaimed for the required five days, and it’s now up for adoption. The second snake could be too if its owner doesn’t come forward before Thursday.
The Colorado Reptile Humane Society, at 12 years old, receives snakes, lizards, turtles, iguanas and other animals each week, but it has never had to find adoptive parents for two jungle carpet pythons at once, said board member Jonathan Scupin of Longmont.
“The larger snakes are hard to find homes for sometimes, but we’ve never had anything like this,” said Scupin, who rescued the first jungle carpet python from a willow tree in the Jim Hamm Nature Area in Longmont.
“Hopefully, the publicity will stir enough interest that we can place both of them before winter,” Scupin said.
The organization has an adoption application, guidelines and other items that potential owners should consider at its website, .
Carpet pythons are commonly sold at pet stores, but as natives of a tropical environment, they struggle to survive at temperatures below 70 degrees, according to online herpetological guides.
Releasing such a snake into the wild in Colorado is a death sentence this time of year, as nighttime temperatures often fall into the 30s.
The python also can disrupt habitats, competing with other species for shelter and food such as rodents, birds and small rabbits, according to online snake sources.
The species grows to 5 to 7 feet in length and can live up to 30 years.
Joey Bunch: 303-954-1174 or jbunch@denverpost.com
